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A Japanese Miscellany 




Oyama no. 
O-KON San wa 



See Page iy8 



TO 

MRS. ELIZABETH BISLAND WETMORE 



Contents 



STRANGE STORIES: — 

I. Of a Promise Kept S 

II. Of a Promise Broken IS 

III. Before the Supreme Court 29 

IV. The Story of Kwashin Koji 37 

V. The Story of Umetsu Chubei 55 

VI. The Story of Kogi the Priest 65 

FOLKLORE GLEANINGS: — 

I. Dragon-flies {illustrated) 81 

II. Buddhist Names of Plants and Animals . . 125 

III. Songs of Japanese Children {illustrated) . . 143 

STUDIES HERE AND THERE: — 

I. On a Bridge 235 

II. The Case of 0-Dai .... 1 243 

III. Beside the Sea {illustrated) 255 

IV. Drifting 269 

V. Otokichi'S Daruma {illustrated) 283 

V/ IN a Japanese Hospital 299 



Illustrations 



"Oyama no, 

0-Kon San wa" Frontispiece 

Dragon-flies : — Facing page 

Plate 1 84 

I. Shio-Tombo (''Salt'' D.) 
II. Mugiwara-Tombo (*' Barlej> Straw" ) 

Plate 2 85 

I. Kino-Tombo 

II. Ko-Mugi-Tombo 

Plate 3 86 

Yurei-Tombo {''Ghost'' D.) or Kuro-Tombo 
("Black" D.) 
Plate 4 87 

I. Shojo-Tombo 

II. Kane-tsuke-Tombo {'' Stained-with-Kane" D.) 

Plate 5 ^^ 

Haguro-Tombo 

Plate 6 89 

I. Seki-i-Shisha ("Red-Robed Messenger" ) 
II. Aka-Tombo 

The Feast of the Ghosts 256 

Yuki-Daruma ^^S' 287 

Toy-Daruma 289 

Otokichi's Daruma. 1 290 

II 292 

III 296 



Strange Stories 



Of a Promise Kept 



Of a Promise Kept' 

" T SHALL return in the early autumn," said 

I Akana Soyemon several hundred years 

ago, — when bidding good-bye to his 

brother by adoption, young Hasebe Samon. The 

time was spring; and the place was the village 

of Kato in the province of Harima. Akana was 

an Izumo samurai ; and he wanted to visit his 

birthplace. 

Hasebe said : — 

"Your Izumo, — the Country of the Eight- 
Cloud Rising,^ — is very distant. Perhaps it 
will therefore be difficult for you to promise to 
return here upon any particular day. But, if we 
were to know the exact day, we should feel hap- 
pier. We could then prepare a feast of welcome ' 

1 Related in the Ugetsu Monogaiart, 
a One of the old poetical names for the Province o! 
Izumo, or Unshu. 

s 



6 Japanese Miscellany 

and we could watch at the gateway for your 
coming." 

" Why, as for that," responded Akana, " I 
have been so much accustomed to travel that I 
can usually tell beforehand how long it will take 
me to reach a place; and I can safely promise 
you to be here upon a particular day. Suppose 
we say the day of the festival Choyo ? " 

"That is the ninth day of the ninth month," 
said Hasebe ; — " then the chrysanthemums will 
be in bloom, and we can go together to look at 
them. How pleasant! ... So you promise to 
come back on the ninth day of the ninth 
month > " 

*' On the ninth day of the ninth month," 
repeated Akana, smiling farewell. Then he 
strode away from the village of Kato in the 
province of Harima ; — and Hasebe Samon and 
the mother of Hasebe looked after him with 
tears in their tyos, 

" Neither the Sun nor the Moon," says an old 
Japanese proverb, "ever halt upon their jour- 
ney." Swiftly the months went by; and the 
autumn came, — the season of chrysanthemums. 
And early upon the morning of the ninth day of 



Of a Promise Kept 7 

the ninth month Hasebe prepared to welcome his 
adopted brother. He made ready a feast of good 
things, bought wine, decorated the guest-room, 
and filled the vases of the alcove with chrysan- 
themums of two colors. Then his mother, 
watching him, said : — " The province of Izumo, 
my son, is more than one hundred ri ^ from this 
place; and the journey thence over the moun- 
tains is difficult and weary; and you cannot be 
sure that Akana will be able to come to-day. 
Would it not be better, before you take all this 
trouble, to wait for his comjng ? " '' Nay, 
mother ! " Hasebe made answer — '' Akana 
promised to be here to-day : he could not break 
a promise ! And if he were to see us beginning 
to make preparation after his arrival, he would 
know that we had doubted his word ; and we 
should be put to shame." 

The day was beautiful, the sky without a 
cloud, and the air so pure that the world seemed 
to be a thousand miles wider than usual. In the 
morning many travellers passed through the 
village — some of them samurai ; and Hasebe, 
watching each as he came, more than once im- 

1 A ri is about equal to two and a half English miles. 



8 Japanese Miscellany 

agined that he saw Akana approaching. But the 
temple-bells sounded the hour of midday; and 
Akana did not appear. Through the afternoon 
also Hasebe watched and waited in vain. The 
sun set; and still there was no sign of Akana. 
Nevertheless Hasebe remained at the gate, gazing 
down the road. Later his mother went to him, 
and said : — " The mind of a man, my son, — 
as our proverb declares — may change as quickly 
as the sky of autumn. But your chrysan- 
themum-flowers will still be fresh to-morrow. 
Better now to sleep ; and in the morning you can 
watch again for Akana, if you wish." " Rest well, 
mother," returned Hasebe ; — " but I still believe 
that he will come." Then the mother went to 
her own room ; and Hasebe lingered at the gate. 
The night was pure as the day had been : all 
the sky throbbed with stars ; and the white River 
of Heaven shimmered with unusual splendor. 
The village slept ; — the silence was broken only 
by the noise of a little brook, and by the far- 
away barking of peasants' dogs. Hase'be still 
waited, — waited until he saw the thin moon sink 
behind the neighboring hills. Then at last he 
began to doubt and to fear. Just as he was 
about to re-enter the house, he perceived in the 



Of a Promise Kept 9 

distance a tall man approaching, — very lightly 
and quickly ; and in the next moment he recog- 
nized Akana. 

** Oh ! " cried Hasebe, springing to meet him 
— '* I have been waiting for you from the morn- 
ing until now ! ... So you really did keep your 
promise after all. . . . But you must be tired, 
poor brother ! — come in ; — everything is ready 
for you." He guided Akana to the place of 
honor in the guest-room, and hastened to trim 
the lights, which were burning low. " Mother," 
continued Hasebe, "felt a little tired this even- 
ing, and she has already gone to bed ; but I shall 
awaken her presently." Akana shook his head, 
and made a little gesture of disapproval. *' As 
you will, brother," said Hasebe; and he set warm 
food and wine before the traveller. Akana did 
not touch the food or the wine, but remained 
motionless and silent for a short time. Then, 
speaking in a whisper, — as if fearful of awaken- 
ing the mother, he said : — 

" Now I must tell you how it happened that 
I came thus late. When I returned to Izumo I 
found that the people had almost forgotten the 
kindness of our former ruler, the good Lord 
Enya, and were seeking the favor of the usurper 



10 Japanese Miscellany 

Tsunehisa, who had possessed himself of the 
Tonda Castle. But I had to visit my cousin, 
Akana Tanji, though he had accepted service 
under Tsunehisa, and was living, as a retainer, 
within the castle grounds. He persuaded me to 
present myself before Tsunehisa : I yielded chiefly 
in order to observe the character of the new ruler, 
whose face I had never seen. He is a skilled sol- 
dier, and of great courage ; but he is cunning and 
cruel. I found it necessary to let him know that 
I could never enter into his service. After I left 
his presence he ordered my cousin to detain me 
— to keep me confined within the house. I pro- 
tested that I had promised to return to Harima 
upon the ninth day of the ninth month ; but 1 
was refused permission to go. I then hoped to 
escape from the castle at night ; but I was con- 
stantly watched ; and until to-day 1 could find no 
way to fulfil my promise. . . ." 

" Until to-day ! " exclaimed Hasebe in bewil- 
derment ; — ''the castle is more than a hundred 
ri from here ! " 

" Yes,'' returned Akana ; " and no living man 
can travel on foot a hundred ri in one day. But 
I felt that, if I did not keep my promise, you 
could not think well of me: and I remembered 



Of a Promise Kept 11 

the ancient proverb, Tamayoku ichi nichi ni sen ri 
woyuku [" The soul of a man can journey a thou- 
sand ri in a day "] . Fortunately I had been allowed 
to keep my sword ; — thus only was I able to 
come to you. ... Be good to our mother." 

With these words he stood up, and in the same 
instant disappeared. 

Then Hasebe knew that Akana had killed him- 
self in order to fulfil the promise. 

At earliest dawn Hasebe Samon set out for the 
Castle Tonda, in the province of Izumo. Reach- 
ing Matsue, he there learned that, on the night of 
the ninth day of the ninth month, Akana Soye- 
mon had performed harakiri in the house of 
Akana Tanji, in the grounds of the castle. Then 
Hasebe went to the house of Akana Tanji, and 
reproached Akana Tanji for the treachery done, 
and slew him in the midst of his family, and es- 
caped without hurt. And when the Lord Tsune- 
hisa had heard the story, he gave commands that 
Hasebe should not be pursued. For, although 
an unscrupulous and cruel man himself, the Lord 
Tsunehisa could respect the love of truth in 
others, and could admire the friendship and the 
courage of Hasebe Samon. 



Of a Promise Broken 



Of a Promise Broken' 

I 

" T AM not afraid to die," said the dying 

I wife; — ''there is only one thing that 
troubles me now. I wish that I could 
know who will take my place in this house." 

" My dear one," answered the sorrowing hus- 
band, " nobody shall ever take your place in my 
home. I will never, never marry again." 

At the time that he said this he was speaking 
out of his heart ; for he loved the woman whom 
he was about to lose. 

'' On the faith of a samurai ? " she questioned, 
with a feeble smile. 

** On the faith of a samurai," he responded, — 
stroking the pale thin face. 

"Then, my dear one," she said, '' you will let 
me be buried in the garden, — will you not ? — 
near those plum-trees that we planted at the 

1 Izumo legend. 

15 



16 Japanese Miscellany 

further end? 1 wanted long ago to ask this; 
but I thought, that if you were to marry again, 
you would not like to have my grave so near 
you. Now you have promised that no other 
woman shall take my place ; — so I need not 
hesitate to speak of my wish. ... I want so 
much to be buried in the garden ! I think that 
in the garden I should sometimes hear your 
voice, and that I should still be able to see the 
flowers in the spring." 

" It shall be as you wish," he answered. " But 
do not now speak of burial : you are not so ill 
that we have lost all hope." 

" / have," she returned ; — "I shall die this 
morning. . . . But you will bury me in the 
garden ? " 

'*Yes," he said, — "under the shade of the 
plum-trees that we planted ; — and you shall have 
a beautiful tomb there." 

" And will you give me a little bell ? " 

"Bell — ?" 

"Yes: I want you to put a little bell in the 
coffin, — such a little bell as the Buddhist pil- 
grims carry. Shall I have it ? " 

" You shall have the little bell, — and anything 
else that you wish." 



Of a Promise Broken 17 

" I do not wish for anything else," she said. 

. . '* My dear one, you have been very good 
to me always. Now I can die happy." 

Then she closed her eyes and died— as easily 
as a tired child falls asleep. She looked beautiful 
when she was dead ; and there was a smile upon 
her face. 

She was buried in the garden, under the shade 
of the trees that she loved ; and a small bell was 
buried with her. Above the grave was erected a 
handsome monument, decorated with the family 
crest, and bearing the kaimyo : — " Great Elder 
Sister, Luminous-Shadow-of-the -Plum- Flower- 
Chamber, dwelling in the Mansion of the Great 
Sea of Compassion:' 



But, within a twelve-month after the death of 
his wife, the relatives and friends of the samurai 
began to insist that he should marry again. " You 
are still a young man," they said, " and an only 
son ; and you have no children. It is the duty of 
a samurai to marry. If you die childless, who 
will there be to make the offerings and to re- 
member the ancestors .? " 

2 



18 Japanese Miscellany 

By many such representations he was at last 
persuaded to marry again. The bride was only 
seventeen years old ; and he found that he could 
love her dearly, notwithstanding the dumb 
reproach of the tomb in the garden. 



II 



Nothing took place to disturb the happiness of 
the young wife until the seventh day after the 
wedding, — when her husband was ordered to 
undertake certain duties requiring his presence at 
the castle by night. On the first evening that he 
was obliged to leave her alone, she felt uneasy in 
a way that she could not explain, — vaguely 
afraid without knowing why. When she went 
to bed she could not sleep. There was a strange 
oppression in the air, — an indefinable heaviness 
like that which sometimes precedes the coming 
of a storm. 

About the Hour of the Ox she heard, outside 
in the night, the clanging of a bell,— a Buddhist 
pilgrim's bell ; — and she ^^^ondered what pilgrim 
could be passing through the samurai quarter at 
such a time. Presently, after a pause, the bell 



Of a Promise Broken 19 

sounded much nearer. Evidently the pilgrim was 
approaching the house ; — but why approaching 
from the rear, where no road was ? . . . Sud- 
denly the dogs began to whine and howl in an 
unusual and horrible way ; — and a fear came 
upon her like the fear of dreams. . . . That ring- 
ing was certainly in the garden. . . . She tried 
to get up to waken a servant. But she found 
that she could not rise, — could not move, — 
could not call. . . . And nearer, and still more 
near, came the clang of the bell ; — and oh ! how 
the dogs howled ! . . . Then, lightly as a shadow 
steals, there glided into the room a Woman, — 
though every door stood fast, and every screen 
unmoved, — a Woman robed in a grave-robe, and 
carrying a pilgrim's bell. Eyeless she came, — 
because she had long been dead ; — and her loos- 
ened hair streamed down about her face ; — and 
she looked without eyes through the tangle of 
it, and spoke without a tongue : — 

" Not in this house, — not in this house shall 
you stay I Here I am mistress still. You shall 
go ; and you shall tell to none the reason of your 
going. If you tell HIM, I will tear you into 
pieces I " 



20 Japanese Miscellany 

So speaking, the haunter vanished. The bride 
became senseless with fear. Until the dawn she 
so remained. 

Nevertheless, in the cheery light of day, she 
doubted the reality of what she had seen and 
heard. The memory of the warning still weighed 
upon her so heavily that she did not dare to 
speak of the vision, either to her husband or to 
any one else ; but she was almost able to persuade 
herself that she had only dreamed an ugly dream, 
which had made her ill. 

On the following night, however, she could 
not doubt. Again, at the Hour of the Ox, the 
dogs began to howl and whine ; — again the bell 
resounded, — approaching slowly from the gar- 
den ; — again the listener vainly strove to rise and 
call ; — again the dead came into the room, and 
hissed, — 

*' You shall go ; and you shall tell to no 
one why you must go ! If you even whisper it 
to HIM, I will tear you in pieces .' " . . . 

This time the haunter came close to the couch, 
— and bent and muttered and mowed above 
it. . . . 



Of a Promise Broken 21 

Next morning, when the samurai returned from 
the castle, his young wife prostrated herself be- 
fore him in supplication : — 

'' I beseech you," she said, " to pardon my in- 
gratitude and my great rudeness in thus address- 
ing you : but I want to go home ; — I want to go 
away at once." 

" Are you not happy here ? " he asked, in sin- 
cere surprise. " Has any one dared to be unkind 
to you during my absence ? " 

** It is not that — " she answered, sobbing. 
" Everybody here has been only too good to me. 
. . . But I cannot continue to be your wife ; — 
I must go away. . . ." 

"My dear," he exclaimed, in great astonish- 
ment, " it is very painful to know that you have 
had any cause for unhappiness in this house. But 
I cannot even imagine why you should want to 
go away — unless somebody has been very un- 
kind to you. . . . Surely you do not mean that 
you wish for a divorce.?" 

She responded, trembling and weeping, — 

" If you do not give me a divorce, I shall 
die ! " 

He remained for a little while silent, — vainly 
trying to think of some cause for this amazing 



22 Japanese Miscellany 

declaration. Then, without betraying any emo- 
tion, he made answer : — 

'' To send you back now to your people, with- 
out any fault on your part, would seem a shame- 
ful act. If you will tell me a good reason for 
your wish, — any reason that will enable me to 
explain matters honorably, — I can write you a 
divorce. But unless you give me a reason, a 
good reason, I will not divorce you, — for the 
honor of our house must be kept above 
reproach." 

And then she felt obliged to speak ; and she 
told him everything, — adding, in an agony of 
terror, — 

*' Now that I have let you know, she will kill 
me ! — she will kill me ! . . ." 

Although a brave man, and little inclined to 
believe in phantoms, the samurai was more than 
startled for the moment. But a simple and nat- 
ural explanation of the matter soon presented 
itself to his mind. 

"My dear," he said, "you are now very ner- 
vous ; and I fear that some one has been telling 
you foolish stories. I cannot give you a divorce 
merely because you have had a bad dream in this 
house. But I am very sorry indeed that you 



Of a Promise Broken 2J 

should have been suffering in such a way during 
my absence. To-night, also, I must be at the 
castle ; but you shall not be alone. I will order 
two of the retainers to keep watch in your room ; 
and you will be able to sleep in peace. They are 
good men ; and they will take all possible care of 
you." 

Then he spoke to her so considerately and so 
affectionately that she became almost ashamed of 
her terrors, and resolved to remain in the house. 

Ill 

The two retainers left in charge of the young wife 
were big, brave, simple-hearted men, — experi- 
enced guardians of women and children. They 
told the bride pleasant stories to keep her cheer- 
ful. She talked with them a long time, laughed 
at their good-humored fun, and almost forgot 
her fears. When at last she lay down to sleep, 
the men-at-arms took their places in a corner of 
the room, behind a screen, and began a game of 
go^ — speaking only in whispers, that she might 
not be disturbed. She slept like an infant. 



1 A game resembling draughts, but much more com- 
plicated. 



24 Japanese Miscellany 

But again at the Hour of the Ox she awoke 
with a moan of terror, — fof she heard the bell ! 
... It was already near, and was coming nearer. 
She started up ; she screamed ; — but in the room 
there was no stir, — only a silence as of death, — 
a silence growing, — a silence thickening. She 
rushed to the men-at-arms : they sat before their 
checker-table, — motionless, — each staring at the 
other with fixed eyes. She shrieked to them: 
she shook them : they remained as if frozen. . . . 

Afterwards they said that they had heard the 
bell, — heard also the cry of the bride, — even 
felt her try to shake them into wakefulness ; — 
and that, nevertheless, they had not been able to 
move or speak. From the same moment they 
had ceased to hear or to see : a black sleep had 
seized upon them. 



Entering his bridal -chamber at dawn, the samu- 
rai beheld, by the light of a dying lamp, the 
headless body of his young wife, lying in a pool 
of blood. Still squatting before their unfinished 
game, the two retainers slept. At their master's 
cry they sprang up, and stupidly stared at the 
horror on the floor. . . . 



Of a Promise Broken 2? 

The head was nowhere to be seen; — and the 
hideous wound showed that it had not been cut 
off, but torn off. A trail of blood led from the 
chamber to an angle of the outer gallery, where 
the storm-doors appeared to have been riven 
apart. The three men followed that trail into the 
garden, — over reaches of grass, — over spaces ot 
sand, — along the bank of an iris-bordered pond, 

— under heavy shadowings of cedar and bamboo. 
And suddenly, at a turn, they found themselves 
face to face with a nightmare-thing that chippered 
like a bat : the figure of the long-buried woman, 
erect before her tomb, — in one hand clutching 
a bell, in the other the dripping head. ... For a 
moment the three stood numbed. Then one of the 
men-at-arms, uttering a Buddhist invocation, drew, 
and struck at the shape. Instantly it crumbled 
down upon the soil, — an empty scattering of 
grave-rags, bones, and hair ; — and the bell rolled 
clanking out of the ruin. But the fleshless right 
hand, though parted from the wrist, still writhed ; 

— and its fingers still gripped at the bleeding head, 

— and tore, and mangled, — as the claws of the 
yellow crab cling fast to a fallen fruit. . . . 

* 
* # 



26 Japanese Miscellany 

[" That is a wicked story," I said to the friend 
who had related it. '' The vengeance of the dead 
— if taken at all — should have been taken upon 
the man." 

" Men think so," he made answer. " But that 
is not the way that a woman feels. . . .*' 

He was right. ] 



Before the Supreme Court 



Before the Supreme Court 

THE great Buddhist priest, Mongaku Shonin, 
says in his book Kyo-gyo Shin-sho : — 
" Many of those gods whom the people 
worship are unjust gods [jajin] : therefore such 
gods are not worshipped by persons who revere 
the Three Precious Things.^ And even persons 
who obtain favors from those gods, in answer 
to prayer, usually find at a later day that such 
favors cause misfortune." This truth is well 
exemplified by a story recorded in the book 
Nihon-Rei-Iki. 

During the time of the Emperor Shomu there 
lived in the district called Yamadagori, in the prov- 
ince of Sanuki, a man named Fushiki no Shin. 



1 Sambo (Ratnatraya) , — the Buddha, the Doctrine, and 
the Priesthood. 

2 He reigned during the second quarter of the eighth 
century. 

29 



30 Japanese Miscellany 

He had but one child, a daughter called Kinume." 
Kinume was a fine-looking girl, and very strong ; 
but, shortly after she had reached her eighteenth 
year, a dangerous sickness began to prevail in that 
part of the country, and she was attacked by it. 
Her parents and friends then made offerings on 
her behalf to a certain Pest- God, and performed 
great austerities in honor of the Pest-God, — 
beseeching him to save her. 

After having lain in a stupor for several days, 
the sick girl one evening came to herself, and told 
her parents a dream that she had dreamed. She 
had dreamed that the Pest-God appeared to her, 
and said : — " Your people have been praying to 
me so earnestly for you, and have been worship- 
ping me so devoutly, that I really wish to save 
you. But I cannot do so except by giving you 
the life of some other person. Do you happen to 
know of any other girl who has the same name 
as yours ? " *M remember," answered Kinume, 
" that in Utarigori there is a girl whose name is 
the same as mine." '' Point her out to me," the 
God said, touching the sleeper ; — and at the touch 
she rose into the air with him ; and, in less than a 



1 <* Golden Plum-Flower." 



Before the Supreme Court ?1 

second, the two were in front of the house of 
the other Kinume, in Utarigori. It was night; 
but the family had not yet gone to bed, and the 
daughter was washing something in the kitchen. 
" That is the girl," said Kinume of Yamadagori. 
The Pest- God took out of a scarlet bag at his 
girdle a long sharp instrument shaped like a chisel ; 
and, entering the house, he drove the sharp in- 
strument into the forehead of Kinume of Utari- 
gori. Then Kinume of Utarigori sank to the 
floor in great agony; and Kinume of Yamada- 
gori awoke, and related the dream. 

Immediately after having related it, however, 
she again fell into a stupor. For three days she 
remained without knowledge of the world ; and 
her parents began to despair of her recovery. 
Then once more she opened her eyes, and spoke. 
But almost in the same moment she rose from 
her bed, looked wildly about the room, and 
rushed out of the house, exclaiming: — "This is 
not my home! — you are not my parents! " . . . 

Something strange had happened. 

Kinume of Utarigori had died after having 
been stricken by the Pest-God. Her parents sor- 
rowed greatly; and the priests of their parish- 



J2 Japanese Miscellany 

temple performed a Buddhist service for her ; and 
her body was burned in a field outside the village. 
Then her spirit descended to the Meido, the world 
of the dead, and was summoned to the tribunal 
of Emma-Dai-O, — the King and Judge of Souls. 
But no sooner had the Judge cast eyes upon her 
than he exclaimed : — " This girl is the Utarigori- 
Kinume: she ought not to have been brought 
here so soon! Send her back at once to the 
Shaba-world/ and fetch me the other Kinume, — 
the Yamadagori girl ! " Then the spirit of Kin- 
ume of Utarigori made moan before King Emma, 
and complained, saying: — ''Great Lord, it is 
more than three days since I died ; and by this 
time my body must have been burned; and, if 
you now send me back to the Shaba-world, what 
shall I do ? My body has been changed into ashes 
and smoke ; — I shall have no body ! " ** Do not 
be anxious," the terrible King answered ; — " I am 
going to give you the body of Kinume of Yama- 
dagori, — for her spirit must be brought here to 
me at once. You need not fret about the burn- 
ing of your body : you will find the body of the 

1 The Shaba-world (Sahaloka), in common parlance, 
signifies the world of men, — the region of human ex- 
istence. 



Before the Supreme Court ?? 

other Kinume very much better." And scarcely 
had he finished speaking when the spirit of Kin- 
ume of Utarigori revived in the body of Kinume 
of Yamadagori. 

Now when the parents of Kinume of Yamada- 
gori saw their sick girl spring up and run away, 
exclaiming, '* This is not my home ! " — they im- 
agined her to be out of her mind, and they ran 
after her, calling out : — '' Kinume, where are 
you going ? — wait for a moment, child ! you are 
much too ill to run like that ! " But she escaped 
from them, and ran on without stopping, until 
she came to Utarigori, and to the house of the 
family of the dead Kinume. There she entered, 
and found the old people ; and she saluted them, 
crying : — " Oh, how pleasant to be again at 
home ! ... Is it well with you, dear parents ? " 
They did not recognize her, and thought her 
mad ; but the mother spoke to her kindly, ask- 
ing: — ''Where have you come from, child?" 
" From the Meido I have come," Kinume made 
answer. "I am your own child, Kinume, re- 
turned to you from the dead. But I have now 
another body, mother." And she related all that 
had happened ; and the old people wondered ex- 

3 



M Japanese Miscellany 

ceedingly, yet did not know what to believe. 
Presently the parents of Kinume of Yamadagori 
also came to the house, looking for their 
daughter ; and then the two fathers and the two 
mothers consulted together, and made the girl re- 
peat her story, and questioned her over and over 
again. But she replied to every question in such 
a way that the truth of her statements could not be 
doubted. At last the mother of the Yamadagori 
Kinume, after having related the strange dream 
which her sick daughter had dreamed, said to the 
parents of the Utarigori Kinume : — '* We are 
satisfied that the spirit of this girl is the spirit of 
your child. But you know that her body is the 
body of our child ; and we think that both fami- 
lies ought to have a share in her. So we would 
ask you to agree that she be considered hence- 
forward the daughter of both families." To this 
proposal the Utarigori parents joyfully consented ; 
and it is recorded that in after-time Kinume in- 
herited the property of both households. 

" This story," says the Japanese author of the 
Bukkyo Hyakkwa Zensho, *' may be found on the 
left side of the twelfth sheet of the first volume 
of the Nihon-Rei-Iki." 



The Story of Kwashin Koji 



The Story of Kwashin KojP 

DURING the period of Tensho ^ there lived, 
in one of the northern districts of Kyoto, 
an old man whom the people called 
Kwashin Koji. He wore a long white beard, and 
was always dressed like a Shinto priest ; but he 
made his living by exhibiting Buddhist pictures 
and by preaching Buddhist doctrine. Every fine 
day he used to go to the grounds of the temple 
Gion, and there suspend to some tree a large 
kakemono on which were depicted the punish- 
ments of the various hells. This kakemono was 
so wonderfully painted that all things represented 
in it seemed to be real ; and the old man would 



1 Related in the curious old book Yaso-Kidan. 

2 The period of Tensho lasted from 1573 to 1591 
(a. D.). The death of the great captain, Oda Nobunaga, 
who figures in this story, occurred in 1582. 

37 



38 Japanese Miscellany 

discourse to the people crowding to see it, and 
explain to them the Law of Cause and Effect, — 
pointing out with a Buddhist staff [nyot], which 
he always carried, each detail of the different tor- 
ments, and exhorting everybody to follow the 
teachings of the Buddha. Multitudes assembled 
to look at the picture and to hear the old man 
preach about it ; and sometimes the mat which 
he spread before him, to receive contributions, 
was covered out of sight by the heaping of coins 
thrown upon it. 

Oda Nobunaga was at that time ruler of Kyoto 
and of the surrounding provinces. One of his 
retainers, named Arakawa, during a visit to the 
temple of Gion, happened to see the picture be- 
ing displayed there ; and he afterwards talked 
about it at the palace. Nobunaga was inter- 
ested by Arakawa's description, and sent orders 
to Kwashin Koji to come at once to the palace, 
and to bring the picture with him. 

When Nobunaga saw the kakemono he was 
not able to conceal his surprise at the vividness of 
the work : the demons and the tortured spirits 
actually appeared to move before his eyes; and 
he heard voices crying out of the picture ; and 
the blood there represented seemed to be really 



The Story of Kwashin Koji 39 

flowing, — so that he could not help putting out 
his finger to feel if the painting was wet. But 
the finger was not stained, —for the paper proved 
to be perfectly dry. More and more astonished, 
Nobunaga asked who had made the wonderful 
picture. Kwashin Koji answered that it had been 
painted by the famous Oguri Sotan, ^ — after 
he had performed the rite of self-purification 
every day for a hundred days, and practised 
great austerities, and made earnest prayer for 
inspiration to the divine Kwannon of Kiyomidzu 
Temple. 

Observing Nobunaga's evident desire to possess 
the kakemono, Arakawa then asked Kwashin Koji 
whether he would " offer it up," as a gift to the 
great lord. But the old man boldly answered : — 
" This painting is the only object of value that I 
possess ; and I am able to make a little money by 
showing it to the people. Were I now to present 
this picture to the lord, I should deprive myself 
of the only means which I have to make my liv- 
ing. However, if the lord be greatly desirous to 



1 Oguri Sotan was a great religious artist who flourished 
in the early part of the fifteenth century. He became a 
Buddhist priest in the later years of his life. 



40 Japanese Miscellany 

possess it, let him pay me for it the sum of one 
hundred rjo of gold. With that amount of 
mone}^ I should be able to engage m some profit- 
able business. Otherwise, I must refuse to give 
up the picture." 

Nobunaga did not seem to be pleased at this 
reply ; and he remained silent. Arakawa pres- 
ently whispered something in the ear of the lord, 
who nodded assent ; and Kwashin Koji was then 
dismissed, \\ith a small present of money. 

But when the old man left the palace, Arakawa 
secretly followed him, — hoping for a chance to 
get the picture by foul means. The chance 
came ; for Kwashin Koji happened to take a road 
leading directly to the heights beyond the town. 
When he reached a certain lonesome spot at the 
foot of the hills, where the road made a sudden 
turn, he was seized by Arakawa, who said to 
hun : — " Why were you so greedy as to ask a 
hundred ryo of gold for that picture ? Instead of 
a hundred ryo of gold, I am now gomg to give 
you one piece of iron three feet long." Then 
Arakawa drew his sword, and killed the old 
man, and took the picture. 



The Srorv' of Kwiishin Ko]i -I- 1 

The next day Aniciwa. presented t&e fcike- 
incHio — still wrapped up as Kwa^mi Koji had 
wrapped it before leaving- the palace — to Oda 
Nobiinaga, who ordered it to be hung up tonh- 
with. But, when it was unrolled, bodi Nobu- 
mgi and his retainer were astounded to nnd that 
there was no piaure at all — nothing bur a blank: 
surface. Arakawa could not explain how the 
ordinal painting !iad disappijared : and as he had 

been guilty- — whetiier willing- ■ ^Hingiy — of 

deceiving bis master, it was cc. ..: he should 

be punished. Aco^rdingly he was sentenced to 
remain in cominem«ait for a considerable time. 

Scarcely had Arakawa completed his term of 
ttnprisonment. when news was brought to him 
tixat K-washin Koji was exhibiting the famous pic- 
ture in the grounds of Kitano Temple. Arakawa 
couM hardly believe his ears : but the intorma- 
tion inspired him with a vague hope that he 
might be aHe. in some way or other, to secure 
the kakemono, and thereby redeem his recait 
fault. So he quickly assembled some of his fol- 
lowers, and hurried to the temple : but wfeai he 
reached it he was told that Kwashin Koji had 
gone away. 



42 Japanese Miscellany 

Several days later, word was brought to Ara- 
kawa that Kwashin Koji was exhibiting the pic- 
ture at Kiyomidzu Temple, and preaching about 
it to an immense crowd. Arakawa made all 
haste to Kiyomidzu ; but he arrived there only in 
time to see the crowd disperse, — for Kwashin 
Koji had again disappeared. 

At last one day Arakawa unexpectedly caught 
sight of Kwashin Koji in a wine -shop, and there 
captured him. The old man only laughed good- 
humoredly on finding himself seized, and said : — 
" I will go with you; but please wait until I drink 
a little wine." To this request Arakawa made no 
objection ; and Kwashin Koji thereupon drank, to 
the amazement of the bystanders, twelve bowls 
of wine. After drinking the twelfth he declared 
himself satisfied ; and Arakawa ordered him to 
be bound with a rope, and taken to Nobunaga's 
residence. 

In the court of the palace Kwashin Koji was 
examined at once by the Chief Officer, and 
sternly reprimanded. Finally the Chief Officer 
said to him : — " It is evident that you have been 
deluding people by magical practices; and for 
this offence alone you deserve to be heavily pun- 
ished. However, if you will now respectfully 



The Story of Kwashin Koji 4} 

oflFer up that picture to the Lord Nobunaga, we 
shall this time overlook your fault. Otherwise 
we shall certainly inflict upon you a very severe 
punishment." 

At this menace Kwashin Koji laughed in a be- 
wildered way, and exclaimed : — " It is not I who 
have been guilty of deluding people." Then, 
turning to Arakawa, he cried out : — " You are 
the deceiver 1 You wanted to flatter the lord by 
giving him that picture ; and you tried to kill me 
in order to steal it. Surely, if there be any such 
thing as crime, that was a crime ! As luck would 
have it, you did not succeed in killing me ; but if 
you had succeeded, as you wished, what would 
you have been able to plead in excuse for such an 
act ? You stole the picture, at all events. The 
picture that I now have is only a copy. And 
after you stole the picture, you changed your 
mind about giving it to Lord Nobunaga ; and 
you devised a plan to keep it for yourself. So 
you gave a blank kakemono to Lord Nobunaga ; 
and, in order to conceal your secret act and pur- 
pose, you pretended that I had deceived you by 
substituting a blank kakemono for the real one. 
Where the real picture now is, I do not know. 
You probably do." 



44 Japanese Miscellany 

At these words Arakawa became so angry that 
he rushed towards the prisoner, and would have 
struck him but for the interference of the guards. 
And this sudden outburst of anger caused the 
Chief Officer to suspect that Arakawa was not 
altogether innocent. He ordered Kwashin Koji to 
be taken to prison for the time being ; and he 
then proceeded to question Arakawa closely. 
Now Arakawa was naturally slow of speech ; and 
on this occasion, being greatly excited, he could 
scarcely speak at all ; and he stammered, and 
contradicted himself, and betrayed every sign of 
guilt. Then the Chief Officer ordered that Ara- 
kawa should be beaten with a stick until he told 
the truth. But it was not possible for him even 
to seem to tell the truth. So he was beaten with 
a bamboo until his senses departed from him, 
and he lay as if dead. 

Kwashin Kofi was told in the prison about 
what had happened to Arakawa ; and he laughed. 
But after a little while he said to the jailer: — 
" Listen ! That fellow Arakawa really behaved 
like a rascal ; and I purposely brought this pun- 
ishment upon him, in order to correct his evil 
inclinations. But now please say to the Chief 



The Story of Kwashin Koji 45 

Officer that Arakawa must have been ignorant of 
the truth, and that I shall explain the whole 
matter satisfactorily." 

Then Kwashin Koji was again taken before 
the Chief Officer, to whom he made the following 
declaration : — "In any picture of real excellence 
there must be a ghost ; and such a picture, hav- 
ing a will of its own, may refuse to be separated 
from the person who gave it life, or even from 
its rightful owner. There are many stories to 
prove that really great pictures have souls. It is 
well known that some sparrows, painted upon a 
sliding-screen [fusuma] by Hogen Yenshin, once 
flew away, leaving blank the spaces which they 
had occupied upon the surface. Also it is well 
known that a horse, painted upon a certain 
kakemono, used to go out at night to eat grass. 
Now, in this present case, I believe the truth to 
be that, inasmuch as the Lord Nobunaga never 
became the rightful owner of my kakemono, the 
picture voluntarily vanished from the paper when 
it was unrolled in his presence. But if you will 
give me the price that I first asked, — one hun- 
dred ryo of gold, — I think that the painting 
will then reappear, of its own accord, upon the 
now blank paper. At all events, let us try! 



46 Japanese Miscellany 

There is nothing to risk, — since, if the picture 
does not reappear, I shall at once return the 
money." 

On hearing of these strange assertions, Nobu- 
naga ordered the hundred ryo to be paid, and 
came in person to observe the result. The kake- 
mono was then unrolled before him ; and, to the 
amazement of all present, the painting reappeared, 
with all its details. But the colors seemed to 
have faded a little ; and the figures of the souls 
and the demons did not look really alive, as be- 
fore. Perceiving this difference, the lord asked 
Kwashin Koji to explain the reason of it; and 
Kwashin Koji replied : — " The value of the 
painting, as you first saw it, was the value of a 
painting beyond all price. But the value of the 
painting, as you now see it, represents exactly 
what you paid for it, — one hundred ryo of 
gold. . . . How could it be otherwise .? " On 
hearing this answer, all present felt that it would 
be worse than useless to oppose the old man any 
further. He was immediately set at liberty ; and 
Arakawa was also liberated, as he had more than 
expiated his fault by the punishment which he 
had undergone. 



The Story of Kwashin Koji 47 

Now Arakawa had a younger brother named 
Buichi, — also a retainer in the service of Nobu- 
naga. Buichi was furiously angry because Ara- 
kawa had been beaten and imprisoned; and he 
resolved to kill Kwashin Koji, Kwashin Koji 
no sooner found himself again at liberty than he 
went straight to a wine-shop, and called for wine. 
Buichi rushed after him into the shop, struck him 
down, and cut off his head. Then, taking the 
hundred ryo thai had been paid to the old man, 
Buichi wrapped up the head and the gold together 
in a cloth, and hurried home to show them to 
Arakawa. But when he unfastened the cloth he 
found, instead of the head, only an empty wine- 
gourd, and only a lump of filth instead of the 
gold. . . . And the bewilderment of the brothers 
was presently increased by the information that 
the headless body had disappeared from the wine- 
shop, — none could say how or when. 

Nothing more was heard of Kwashin Koji 
until about a month later, when a drunken man 
was found one evening asleep in the gateway of 
Lord Nobunaga's palace, and snoring so loud that 
every snore sounded like the rumbling of distant 
thunder. A retainer discovered that the drunk. 



48 Japanese Miscellany 

ard was Kwashin Koji. For this insolent offence, 
the old fellow was at once seized and thrown into 
the prison. But he did not awake ; and in the 
prison he continued to sleep without interruption 
for ten days and ten nights, — all the while snor- 
ing so that the sound could be heard to a great 
distance. 

About this time, the Lord Nobunaga came to 
his death through the treachery of one of his 
captains, Akechi Mitsuhide, who thereupon 
usurped rule. But Mitsuhide 's power endured 
only for a period of twelve days. 

Now when Mitsuhide became master of Kyoto, 
he was told of the case of Kwashin Koji ; and 
he ordered that the prisoner should be brought 
before him. Accordingly Kwashin Koji was 
summoned into the presence of the new lord ; but 
Mitsuhide spoke to him kindly, treated him as a 
guest, and commanded that a good dinner shouM 
be served to him. When the old man had eaten, 
Mitsuhide said to him : — " I have heard that you 
are very fond of wine ; — how much wine can 
you drink at a single sitting ? " Kwashin Koji 
answered : — " I do not really know how much ; 
1 stop drinking only when I feel intoxication 



The Story of Kwashin Koji 49 

coming on." Then the lord set a great wine- 
cup ^ before Kwashin Koji, and told a servant to 
fill the cup as often as the old man wished. And 
Kwashin Koji emptied the great cup ten times in 
succession, and asked for more; but the servant 
made answer that the wine-vessel was exhausted. 
^11 present were astounded by this drinking-feat ; 
and the lord asked Kwashin Koji, "Are you 
not yet satisfied, Sir ? " " Well, yes," replied 
Kwashin Koji, " 1 am somewhat satisfied ; — and 
now, in return for your august kindness, I shall 
display a little of my art. Be therefore so good 
as to observe that screen." He pointed to a large 
eight-folding screen upon which were painted the 
Eight Beautiful Views of the Lake of Omi (Omi- 
Hakkei) ; and everybody looked at the screen. 
In one of the views the artist had represented, far 
away on the lake, a man rowing a boat, — the 
boat occupying, upon the surface of the screen, 
a space of less than an inch in length. Kwashin 



1 The term " bowl " would better indicate the kind of 
vessel to which the story-teller refers. Some of the so- 
called cups, used on festival occasions, were very large, — 
shallow lacquered basins capable of holding considerably 
more than a quart. To empty one of the largest size, at a 
draught, was considered to be no small feat. 
4 



$0 Japanese Miscellany 

Koji then waved his hand in the direction of the 
boat ; and all saw the boat suddenly turn, and be- 
gin to move toward the foreground of the picture. 
It grew rapidly larger and larger as it approached ; 
and presently the features of the boatman be- 
came clearly distinguishable. Still the boat drew 
nearer, — always becoming larger, — until it ap- 
peared to be only a short distance away. And, 
all of a sudden, the water of the lake seemed to 
overflow, — out of the picture into the room ; — 
and the room was flooded ; and the spectators 
girded up their robes in haste, as the water rose 
above their knees. In the same moment the 
boat appeared to glide out of the screen, — a real 
fishing-boat ; — and the creaking of the single oar 
could be heard. Still the flood in the room con- 
tinued to rise, until the spectators were standing 
up to their girdles in water. Then the boat came 
close up to Kwashin Koji ; and Kwashin Koji 
climbed into it ; and the boatman turned about, 
and began to row away very swiftly. And, as the 
boat receded, the water in the room began to lower 
rapidly, — seeming to ebb back into the screen. 
No sooner had the boat passed the apparent fore- 
ground of the picture than the room was dry 
again! But still the painted vessel appeared to 



The Story of Kwashin Koji $1 

glide over the painted water, — retreating f urthier 
into the distance, and ever growing smaller, — 
till at last it dwindled to a dot in the offing. 
And then it disappeared altogether ; and Kwashin 
Koji disappeared with it. He was never again 
seen in Japan. 



The Story of Ume'tsu Chubei 



The Story of Umetsu Chubei' 



UMETSU CHUBEI was a young samurai 
of great strength and courage. He 
was in the service of the Lord Tomura 
Judayu, whose castle stood upon a lofty hill in 
the neighborhood of Yokote, in the province of 
Dewa. The houses of the lord's retainers formed 
a small town at the base of the hill. 

Umetsu was one of those selected for night- 
duty at the castle- gates. There were two night- 
watches ; — the first beginning at ' sunset and 
ending at midnight ; the second beginning at 
midnight and ending at sunrise. 

Once, when Umetsu happened to be on the 
second watch, he met with a strange adventure. 
While ascending the hill at midnight, to take his 
place on guard, he perceived a woman standing 
at the last upper turn of the winding road lead- 



1 Related in the Bukkj^o-Hyakkwa-Zensbo. 
55 



$6 Japanese Miscellany 

mg to the castle. She appeared to have a child 
in her arms, and to be waiting for somebody. 
Only the most extraordinary circumstances could 
account for the presence of a woman in that 
lonesome place at so late an hour ; and Umetsu 
remembered that goblins were wont to assume 
feminine shapes after dark, in order to deceive 
and destroy men. He therefore doubted whether 
the seeming woman before him was really a 
human being; and when he saw her hasten 
towards him, as if to speak, he intended to 
pass her by without a word. But he was too 
much surprised to do so when the woman called 
him by name, and said, in a very sweet voice : — 
"Good Sir Umetsu, to-night I am in great 
trouble, and I have a most painful duty to per- 
form: will you not kindly help me by holding 
this baby for one little moment.?" And she 
held out the child to him. 

Umetsu did not recognize the woman, who 
appeared to be very young: he suspected the 
charm of the strange voice, suspected a super- 
natural snare, suspected everything ; — but he 
was naturally kind ; and he felt that it would 
be unmanly to repress a kindly impulse through 
fear of goblins. Without replying, he took the 



Umetsu Chubei ?7 

child. " Please hold it till I come back," said 
the woman : "I shall return in a very little 
while." ** I will hold it," he answered ; and 
immediately the woman turned from him, and, 
leaving the road, sprang soundlessly down the 
hill so lightly and so quickly that he could 
scarcely believe his tyts. She was out of sight 
in a few seconds. 

Umetsu then first looked at the child. It was 
very small, and appeared to have been just born. 
It was very still in his hands; and it did not 
cry at all. 

Suddenly it seemed to be growing larger. He 
looked at it again. ... No: it was the same 
small creature ; and it had not even moved. 
Why had he imagined that it was growing 
larger } 

In another moment he knew why; — and he 
felt a chill strike through him. The child was 
not growing larger ; but it was growing heavier. 
... At first it had seemed to weigh only seven 
or eight pounds: then its weight had gradually 
doubled — tripled — quadrupled. Now -it could 
not weigh less than fifty pounds ; — and still it 
was getting heavier and heavier. ... A hun- 
dred pounds 1 — a hundred and fifty I — two hun- 



<8 Japanese Miscellany 

dred ! . . . Umetsu knew that he had been 
dehided, — that he had not been speaking with 
any mortal woman, — that the child was not 
human. But he had made a promise; and a 
samurai was bound by his promise. So he kept 
the infant in his arms ; and it continued to grow 
heavier and heavier . . . two hundred and fifty ! 
— three hundred ! — four hundred pounds ! . . . 
What was going to happen he could not imag- 
ine ; but he resolved not to be afraid, and not 
to let the child go while his strength lasted. . . . 
Five hundred! — five hundred and fifty! — six 
hundred pounds! All his muscles began to 
quiver with the strain ; — and still the weight 
increased. . . . " Namu Amida Butsu I" he 
groaned — " Namu Amida Butsu ! — Namu 
Amida Butsu I" Even as he uttered the holy 
invocation for the third time, the weight passed 
away from him with a shock ; and he stood 
stupefied, with empty hands, — for the child had 
unaccountably disappeared. But almost in the 
same instant he saw the mysterious woman re- 
turning as quickly as she had gone. Still pant- 
ing she came to him; and he then first saw 
that she was very fair ; — but her brow dripped 
with sweat; and her sleeves were bound back 



Umetsu Chubei ?9 

with tasuki-cords, as if she had been working 
hard. 

"Kind Sir Umetsu," she said, "you do not 
know how great a service you have done me. 
I am the Ujigami^ of this place; and to-night 
one of my Ujiko found herself in the pains of 
childbirth, and prayed to me for aid. But the 
labor proved to be very difficult ; and I soon 
saw that, by my own power alone, I might not 
be able to save her: — therefore I sought for 
the help of your strength and courage. And 
the child that I laid in your hands was the child 
that had not yet been born; and in the time 
that you first felt the child becoming heavier 
and heavier, the danger was very great, — for 
the Gates of Birth were closed. And when you 
felt the child become so heavy that you despaired 
of being able to bear the weight much longer, — 
in that same moment the mother seemed to be 
dead, and the family wept for her. Then you 
three times repeated the prayer, Namu Amida 
Butsu! — and the third time that you uttered 



1 Ujigami is the title given to the tutelary Shinto divin- 
ity of a parish or district. All persons living in that parish 
or district, and assisting in the maintenance of the temple 
{miya) of the deity, are called Ujiko. 



60 Japanese Miscellany 

it the power of the Lord Buddha came to our 
aid, and the Gates of Birth were opened. . . . 
And for that which you have done you shall be 
fitly rewarded. To a brave samurai no gift can 
be more serviceable than strength : therefore, 
not only to you, but likewise to your children 
and to your children's children, great strength 
shall be given." 

And, with this promise, the divinity disap- 
peared. 

Umetsu Chubei, wondering greatly, resumed 
his way to the castle. At sunrise, on being 
relieved from duty, he proceeded as usual to 
wash his face and hands before making his 
morning prayer. But when he began to wring 
the towel which had served him, he was sur- 
prised to feel the tough material snap asunder 
in his hands. He attempted to twist together 
the separated portions ; and again the stuflF 
parted — like so much wet paper. He tried to 
wring the four thicknesses; and the result was 
the same. Presently, after handling various ob- 
jects of bronze and of iron which yielded to his 
touch like clay, he understood that he had come 
into full possession of the great strength prom- 



Umetsu Chubei 61 

ised, and that he would have to be careful thence- 
forward when touching things, lest they should 
crumble in his fingers. 

On returning home, he made inquiry as to 
whether any child had been born in the settle- 
ment during the night. Then he learned that 
a birth had actually taken place at the very 
hour of his adventure, and that the circum- 
stances had been exactly as related to him by 
the Ujigami. 

The children of Umetsu Chubei inherited their 
father's strength. Several of his descendants — 
all remarkably powerful men — were still living 
in the province of Dewa at the time when this 
story was written. 



The Story of Kogi the Priest 



The Story of Kogi the Priest' 

NEARLY one thousand years ago there lived 
in the famous temple called Miidera, at 
Otsu ^ in the province of Omi, a learned 
priest named Kogi. He was a great artist. He 
painted, with almost equal skill, pictures of the 
Buddhas, pictures of beautiful scenery, and pic- 
tures of animals or birds; but he liked best to 
paint fishes. Whenever the weather was fair, and 
religious duty permitted, he would go to Lake 
Biwa, and hire fishermen to catch fish for him, 
without injuring them in any way, so that he 
could paint them afterwards as they swam about 
in a large vessel of water. After having made 

1 From the collection entitled Ugetsu Monogatari. 

* The town of Otsu stands on the shore of the great 
Lake of Omi, — usually called Lake Biwa; — and the temple 
Miidera is situated upon a hill overlooking the water. 
Miidera was founded in the seventh century, but has been 
several times rebuilt : the present structure dates back to 
the latter part of the seventeenth century. 
5 65 



66 Japanese Miscellany 

pictures of them, and fed them like pets, he 
would set them free again, — taking them back 
to the lake himself. His pictures of fish at last 
became so famous that people travelled from 
great distances to see them. But the most won- 
derful of all his drawings of fish was not drawn 
from life, but was made from the memory of a 
dream. For one day, as he sat by the lake-side 
to watch the fishes swimming, Kogi had fallen 
into a doze, and had dreamed that he was playing 
with the fishes under the water. After he awoke, 
the memory of the dream remained so clear that 
he was able to paint it ; and this painting, which 
he hung up in the alcove of his own room in the 
temple, he called " Dream-Carp." 

Kogi could never be persuaded to sell any of 
his pictures of fish. He was willing to part with 
his drawings of landscapes, of birds, or of flowers ; 
but he said that lie would not sell a picture of 
living fish to any one who was cruel enough to 
kill or to eat fish. And as the persons who 
wanted to buy his paintings were all fish- eaters, 
their offers of money could not tempt him. 

One summer Kogi fell sick ; and after a week's 
illness he lost all power of speech and movement, 



K5gi the Priest 67 

so that he seemed to be dead. But after his 
funeral service had been performed, his disciples 
discovered some warmth in the body, and decided 
to postpone the burial for awhile, and to keep 
watch by the seeming corpse. In the afternoon 
of the same day he suddenly revived, and ques- 
tioned the watchers, asking : — 

" How long have I remained without knowledge 
of the world ? " 

" More than three days," an acolyte made 
answer. " We thought that you were dead ; and 
this morning your friends and parishioners assem- 
bled in the temple for your funeral service. We 
performed the service; but afterwards, finding 
that your body was not altogether cold, we put 
off the burial; and now we are very glad that 
we did so." 

Kogi nodded approvingly : then he said : — 

" I want some one of you to go immediately 
to the house of Taira no Suke, where the young 
men are having a feast at the present moment — 
(they are eating fish and drinking wine), — and 
say to them : — ' Our master has revived ; and he 
begs that you will be so good as to leave your 
feast, and to call upon him without delay, be- 
cause he has a wonderful story to tell you.' . . . 



68 Japanese Miscellany 

At the same time " — continued Kogi — " observe 
what Suke and his brothers are doing; — see 
whether they are not feasting as I say." 

Then an acolyte went at once to the house of 
Taira no Suke, and was surprised to find that 
Suke and his brother Jiiro, with their attendant, 
Kamori, were having a feast, just as Kogi had 
said. But, on receiving the message, all three 
immediately left their fish and wine, and hastened 
to the temple. Kogi, lying upon the couch to 
which he had been removed, received them with 
a smile of welcome; and, after some pleasant 
words had been exchanged, he said to Suke : — 

" Now, my friend, please reply to some ques- 
tions that I am going to ask you. First of all, 
kindly tell me whether you did not buy a fish 
to-day from the fisherman Bunshi." 

" Why, yes," replied Suke — " but how did 
you know ? " 

" Please wait a moment," said the priest. . . . 
*' That fisherman Bunshi to-day entered your gate, 
with a fish three feet long in his basket : it was 
early in the afternoon, just after you and Juro 
had begun a game of go ; — and Kamori was 
watching the game, and eating a peach — was 
he not } " 



Kogi the Priest 69 

"That is true," exclaimed Suke and Kamori 
together, with, increasing surprise. 

" And when Kamori saw that big fish," pro- 
ceeded Kogi, *^ he agreed to buy it at once ; and, 
besides paying the price of the fish, he also gave 
Bunshi some peaches, in a dish, and three cups of 
wine. Then the cook was called ; and he came 
and looked at the fish, and admired it ; and then, 
by your order, he sliced it and prepared it for 
your feast. . . . Did not all this happen just as 1 
have said ? " 

** Yes," responded Suke ; " but we are very 
much astonished that you should know what 
happened in our house to-day. Please tell us 
how you learned these matters." 

** Well, now for my story," said the priest. 
** You are aware that almost everybody believed 
me to be dead; — you yourselves attended my 
funeral service. But I did not think, three days 
ago, that I was at all dangerously ill : I remem- 
ber only that I felt weak and very hot, and that 
I wanted to go out into the air to cool myself. 
And I thought that I got up from my bed, with a 
great effort, and went out, — supporting myself 
with a stick. . . . Perhaps this may have been 
imagination; but you will presently be able to 



70 Japanese Miscellany 

judge the truth for yourselves : I am going to 
relate everything exactly as it appeared to hap- 
pen. ... As soon as I got outside of the house, 
into the bright air, I began to feel quite light, — 
light as a bird flying away from the net or the 
basket in which it has been confined. I wandered 
on and on till I reached the lake ; and the water 
looked so beautiful and blue that I felt a great 
desire to have a swim. I took oflf my clothes, 
and jumped in, and began to swim about ; and I 
was astonished to find that I could swim very 
fast and very skilfully, — although before my 
sickness I had always been a very poor swim- 
mer. . . . You think that I am only telling you 
a foolish dream — but listen! . . . While I was 
wondering at this new skill of mine, I perceived 
many beautiful fishes swimming below me and 
around me ; and I felt suddenly envious of their 
happiness, — reflecting that, no matter how good 
a swimmer a man may become, he never can 
enjoy himself under the water as a fish can. 
Just then, a very big fish lifted its head above the 
surface in front of me, and spoke to me with the 
voice of a man, saying : — * That wish of yours 
can very easily be satisfied: please wait there a 
moment ! ' The fish then went down, out of 



Kogi the Priest 71 

sight ; and I waited. After a few minutes there 
came up, from the bottom of the lake, — riding 
on the back of the same big fish that had spoken 
to me, — a man wearing the headdress . and the 
ceremonial robes of a prince ; and the man said 
to me : — M come to you with a message from 
the Dragon -King, who knows of your desire to 
enjoy for a little time the condition of a fish. 
As you have saved the lives of many fish, and 
have always shown compassion to living crea- 
tures, the God now bestows upon you the attire 
of the Golden Carp, so that you will be able to 
enjoy the pleasures of the Water- World. But 
you must be very careful not to eat any fish, or 
any food prepared from fish, — no matter how 
nice may be the smell of it; — and you must 
also take great care not to get caught by the 
fishermen, or to hurt your body in any way.* 
With these words, the messenger and his fish 
went below and vanished in the deep water. I 
looked at myself, and saw that my whole body 
had become covered with scales that shone like 
gold;— I saw that I had fins; — I found that I 
had actually been changed into a Golden Carp. 
Then I knew that I could swim wherever I 
pleased. 



72 Japanese Miscellany 

" Thereafter it seemed to me that I swam 
away, and visited many beautiful places. [Here, 
in the original narrative, are introduced some 
vtrses describing the Eight Famous Attractions 
of the Lake of Omi, — " Omi-Hakkei."] Some- 
times I was satisfied only to look at the sunlight 
dancing over the blue water, or to admire the 
beautiful reflection of hills and trees upon still 
surfaces sheltered from the wind. ... I remem- 
ber especially the coast of an island — either 
Okitsushima or Chikubushima — reflected in the 
water like a red wall. . . . Sometimes I would 
approach the shore so closely that I could see the 
faces and hear the voices of people passing by ; 
sometimes I would sleep on the water until 
startled by the sound of approaching oars. At 
night there were beautiful moonlight-views ; but 
I was frightened more than once by the approach- 
ing torchfires of the fishing-boats of Katase. 
When the weather was bad, I would go below, — 
far down, — even a thousand feet, — and play at 
the bottom of the lake. But after two or three 
days of this wandering pleasure, I began to feel 
very hungry; and I returned to this neighbor- 
hood in the hope of finding something to eat. 
Just at that time the fisherman Bunshi happened 



Kogi the Priest 7? 

to be fishing ; and I approached the hook which 
he had let down into the water. There was some 
fish-food upon it that was good to smell. I 
remembered in the same moment the warning of 
the Dragon- King, and swam away, saying to my- 
self : — 'In any event I must not eat food con- 
taining fish ; — 1 am a disciple of the Buddha.' 
Yet after a little while my hunger became so in- 
tense that I could not resist the temptation ; and I 
swam back again to the hook, thinking, — ' Even 
if Bunshi should catch me, he would not hurt 
me; — he is my old friend.' I was not able to 
loosen the bait from the hook ; and the pleas- 
ant smell of the food was too much for my 
patience ; and I swallowed the whole thing at a 
gulp. Immediately after I did so, Bunshi pulled 
in his line, and caught me. I cried out to him, 
* What are you doing ? — you hurt me ! ' — but 
he did not seem to hear me, and he quickly put 
a string through my jaws. Then he threw me 
into his basket, and took me to your house. 
When the basket was opened there, I saw you 
and Jiiro playing go in the south room, and 
Kamori watching you — eating a peach the while. 
All of you presently came out upon the veranda 
to look at me; and you were delighted to see 



74 Japanese Miscellany 

such a big fish. I called out to you as loud as I 
could : — M am not a fish ! — I am Kogi — Kogi 
the priest ! please let me go back to my temple ! ' 
But you clapped your hands for gladness, and 
paid no attention to my words. Then your cook 
carried me into the kitchen, and threw me down 
violently upon a cutting-board, where a terribly 
sharp knife was lying. With his left hand he 
pressed me down, and with his right hand he 
took up that knife, — and 1 screamed to him : — 
' How can you kill me so cruelly ! I am a dis- 
ciple of the Buddha ! — help ! help ! ' But in the 
same instant I felt his knife dividing me — a 
frightful pain ! — and then I suddenly awoke, and 
found myself here in the temple." 

When the priest had thus finished his story, 
the brothers wondered at it; and Suke said to 
him : — ''I now remember noticing that the jaws 
of the fish were moving all the time that we were 
looking at it ; but we did not hear any voice. . . . 
Now I must send a servant to the house with 
orders to throw the remainder of that fish into 
the lake." 

Kogi soon recovered from his illness, and lived 
to paint many more pictures. It is related that, 



Kogi the Priest 7? 

long after his death, some of his fish-pictures once 
happened to fall into the lake, and that the figures 
of the fish immediately detached themselves from 
the silk or the paper upon which they had been 
painted, and swam away! 



Folklore Gleanings 



Dragon-flies 



Dragon-flies 



1 



ONE of the old names of Japan is Akitsu- 
shima, meaning ** The Island of the 
Dragon-fly," and written with the char- 
acter representing a dragon-fly, — which insect, 
now called tombo, was anciently called akitsu. 
Perhaps this name Akitsushima, " Island of the 
Dragon-fly," was phonetically suggested by a 
still older name for Japan, also pronounced Akit- 
sushima, but written with different characters, 
and signifying "The Land of Rich Harvests." 
However this may be, there is a tradition that 
the Emperor Jimmu, some twenty-six hundred 
years ago, ascended a mountain to gaze over the 
province of Yamato, and observed to those who 
accompanied him that the configuration of the 
land was like a dragon-fly licking its tail. Because 
of this august observation the province of Ya- 
6 81 



82 Japanese Miscellany 

mato came to be known as the Land of the 
Dragon-fly; and eventually the name was ex- 
tended to the whole island. And the Dragon-fly 
remains an emblem of the Empire even to this 
day. 

In a literal sense, Japan well deserves to be 
called the Land of the Dragon-fly ; for, as Rein 
poetically declared, it is "a true Eldorado to the 
neuroptera-fancier." Probably no other country 
of either temperate zone possesses so many kinds 
of dragon-flies; and I doubt whether even the 
tropics can produce any dragon- flies more curi- 
ously beautiful than some of the Japanese species. 
The most wonderful dragon-fly that I ever saw 
was a Japanese Calepteryx, which I captured 
last summer in Shidzuoka. It was what the 
country-folk call a '' black dragon-lly " ; but the 
color was really a rich deep purple. The long 
narrow wings, velvety purple, seemed — even to 
touch — like the petals of some marvellous flower. 
The purple body, slender as a darning-needle, 
was decorated with dotted lines of dead gold. 
The head and thorax were vivid gold-green ; but 
the eyes were pure globes of burnished gold. 
The legs were fringed on the inner side with in- 
describably delicate spines, set at right angles to 



Dragon-flies 83 

the limb, like the teeth of a fairy-comb. So 
exquisite was the creature that I felt a kind of re- 
morse for having disturbed it, — felt as if I had 
been mecfdling- with something belonging to the 
gods; — and I quickly returned it to the shrub on 
which it had been reposing. . . . This particular 
kind of dragon-fly is said to haunt only the neigh- 
borhood of a clear stream near the town of 
Yaidzu. It is, however, but one of many lovely 
varieties. 

But the more exquisite dragon-flies are infre- 
quently seen; and they seldom figure in Japanese 
literature ; — and I can attempt to interest my 
reader only in the poetry and the folklore of 
dragon-flies. I propose to discourse of dragon- 
flies in the old-fashioned Japanese way ; and the 
little that I have been able to learn upon the sub- 
ject,— with the help of quaint books and of 
long-forgotten drawings, — mostly relates to the 
commoner species. 

But before treating of dragon-fly literature, it 
will be necessary to say something regarding 
dragon-fly nomenclature. Old Japanese books 
profess to name about fifty kinds ; and the Chufu- 



84 Japanese Miscellany 

Zusetsu actually contains colored pictures of 
nearly that number of dragon-flies. But in these 
volumes several insects resembling dragon-flies are 
improperly classed with dragon-flies ; and in more 
than one case it would seem that different names 
have been given to the male and female of the 
same species. On the other hand I find as many 
as four different varieties of dragon-fly bearing 
the same folk-name ! And in view of these facts 
I venture to think that the following list will be 
found sufficiently complete : — 

I. — Mugiwara-tomho (or simply, tomho), 
*' Barley -straw Dragon-fly," — so called because 
its body somewhat resembles in shape and color a 
barley-straw. — This is perhaps the most common 
of all the dragon-flies, and the first to make its 
appearance. 

II. — Shiokara-tombo, or Shio-tomho, — " Salt- 
fish Dragon-fly," or "Salt Dragon-fly," — so 
called because the end of its tail looks as if it 
had been dipped in salt. Shiokara is the name 
given to a preparation of fish preserved in salt. 

III. — Kino-tomho, ''Yellow Dragon-fly." — It 
is not all yellow, but reddish, with yellow stripes 
and bands. 




'.^' 



/ 



IfF 



d 




Plate 1 



I. Shio-Tombo ("Srt// •' D,> 
II. MUGIWARA-TOMBO (" Barley Straw ") 



Dragon-flies 8? 

IV. — Ao-tomho. Ao means either blue or 
green ; and two different kinds of dragon-fly, — 
one green, and one metallic-blue, — are called by 
this name. 

V. — Koshiaki'tombd, — " Shining Loins." The 
insect usually so called is black and yellow. 

VI. — Tono - Sama - tomho, — " August - Lord 
Dragon-fly." Many different kinds of dragon-fly 
are called by this name, — probably on account of 
their beautiful colors. The name Koshiaki, or 
"Shining Loins," is likewise given to several 
varieties. 

VII. — Ko-mugi-tombo, " Wheat-straw Dragon- 
fly." — Somewhat smaller than the ** Barley -straw 
dragon-fly." 

VIII. — Tsumaguro-tombo, " Black -skirted (or 
" black -hemmed ") Dragon-fly." — Several kinds 
of dragon-flies are thus called, because the edges 
of the wings are black or dark -red. 

IX. — Kuro-tombo, "Black Dragon-fly." As 
the word kuro means either dark in color or 
black, it is not surprising to find this name given 
both to deep red and to deep purple insects. 

X. — Karakasa-tombo, " Umbrella Dragon-fly." 
The body of this creature is said to resemble, both 
in form and color, a closed umbrella of the kind 



86 Japanese Miscellany 

known as karakasa, made of split bamboo 
covered with thick oil-paper. 

XL — Cho-tombo, — " Butterfly Dragon-fly." 
Several varieties of dragon-fly are thus called, — 
apparently because of wing-markings like those 
of moths or butterflies. 

XII. — Shojo-tombo. A bright-red dragon-fly 
is so named, simply because of its tint. — In the 
zoological mythology of China and Japan, the 
Shojo figures as a being less than human, but 
more than animal, — in appearance resembling 
a stout boy with long crimson hair. From this 
crimson hair it was alleged that a wonderful red 
dye could be extracted. The Shojo was supposed 
to be very fond of sake; and in Japanese art 
the creature is commonly represented as dancing 
about a s^^^-vessel. 

XIII. — Haguro-tombo, " Black-winged Dragon- 
fly." 

XIV. — Oni -yamma, " Demon Dragon-fly." 
This is the largest of all the Japanese dragon- 
flies. It is rather unpleasantly colored; the 
body being black, with bright yellow bands and 
stripes. 

XV. — Ki-yamma, " Goblin Dragon-fly." Also 
called Ki-Emma, — '* Emma," or" Yemma," being 





Plate 3 



YUREI-TOMBO C Ghost " D.) or 
KuRO-TOMb5 (" Black '■' D.) 





Plate 4 



I. Shojo-Tombo 

II. KanE-TSUKE-Tombo (." Stained-with-Kaii, 



Dragon-flies 87 

the name of the King of Death and Judge of 
Souls. 

XVl — Shdryd-tombo, " The Dragon-fly of the 
Ancestral Spirits." This appellation, as well as 
another of kindred meaning, — Shorai-tomho, or 
** Dragon-fly of the Dead," — would appear, so far 
as I could learn, to be given to many kinds of 
dragon-fly. 

XVII. — Yurei-tomho, — " Ghost Dragon-fly." 
Various creatures are called by this name, — which 
I thought especially appropriate in the case of one 
beautiful Calepteryx, whose soundless black flit- 
ting might well be mistaken for the motion of a 
shadow, — the shadow of a dragon-fly. Indeed 
this appellation for the black insect must have been 
intended to suggest the primitive idea of shadow 
as ghost. 

XVIII. — Kane-tsuke - tomho, or 0-haguro - 
tomho. Either name refers to the preparation 
formerly used to blacken the teeth of married 
women, and might be freely rendered as " Tooth- 
blackening Dragon-fly." 0-haguro ('' honora- 
ble tooth-blackening " ) or Kane, were the terms 
by which the tooth-staining infusion was com- 
monly known. Kane wo tsukeru signified to 
apply, or, more literally, to wear the stuff : thus 



88 Japanese Miscellany 

the appellation Kane-tsuke tombo might be inter- 
preted as *' the Kane-sidimtd Dragon-fly." The 
wings of the insect are half-black, and look as if 
they had been partly dipped in ink. Another 
and equally picturesque name for the creature is 
Koya, " the Dyer." 

XIX. — Ta-no- Kami-tomho , '' Dragon-fly of 
the God of Rice-fields." This appellation has 
been given to an insect variegated with red and 
yellow. 

XX. — Yanagi-joro, " The Lady of the Weep- 
ing-willow." A beautiful, but ghostly name; 
for the Yanagi-joro is the Spirit of the Willow- 
tree. I find that two very graceful species of 
dragon-fly are thus called. 

XXI. — Seki-i-Shisha, '* Red-robed Messenger." 

XXII. — Yamma-tombo. The name is a sort 
of doublet ; yamma signifying a large dragon-fly, 
and tombo any sort of dragon-fly. This is the 
name for a black-and-green insect, called Onjo 
in Izumo. 

XXIII. — Kuruma-yamma, ** Wagon Dragon- 
fly," — probably so-named from the disk-like 
appendages of the tail. 

XXIV. —Aka-tombd, '' Red Dragon-fly." The 
name is now given to various species; but the 





Plate 5 
Haguro-Tombo 




Plate 6 



1. SEKl-\-SH\SH\t^' Red Ri'hta Mestertf^ei 'i 
II. AKA-TOMBO 



Dragon-flies 89 

insect especially referred to as Aha-toinho by 
the old poets is a small dragon-fly, which is often 
seen in flocks. 

XXV. — Tosumi-tombo, " Lamp-wick Dragon- 
fly." A very small creature, — thus named be- 
cause of the resemblance of its body to the 
slender pith-wick used in the old-fashioned 
Japanese lamp. 

XXVI. — Mono-sashi-tombo, " Foot-measure 
Dragon-fly." This also is a very small insect. 
The form of its body, with the ten joint-mark- 
ings, suggested this name ; — the ordinary Jap- 
anese foot -measure, usually made of bamboo, 
being very narrow, and divided into only ten 
sun, or inches. 

XXVII. — Beni-tombo. This is the name given 
to a beautiful pink dragon-fly, on account of its 
color. Beni is a kind of rouge, with which the 
Japanese girl tints her lips and cheeks on certain 
occasions. 

XXWWl — Mekura-tombo, " Blind Dragon-fly." 
The creature thus called is not blind at all ; but it 
dashes its large body in so clumsy a way against 
objects in a room that it was at one time sup- 
posed to be sightless. 

XX\X. — Ka-tombC, ** Mosquito Dragon-fly," 



90 Japanese Miscellany 

— perhaps in the same sense as the American 
term " mosquito-hawk." 

XXX. — Kuro-yama-tomho, "Black Mountain- 
Dragon-fly," — so called to distinguish it from 
the Yama-tombo, or '' Mountain Dragon-fly," 
which is mostly green. 

XXXI. — Ko-yama-tombo, " Little Mountain- 
Dragon-fly," — the name of a small insect resem- 
bling the Yama-tomho in form and color. 

XXXII. — Tsukete-dan. The word dan is a 
general term for variegated woven stuffs; and 
the name tsukete-dan might be freely rendered 
as " The Wearer of the Many-Colored Robe." 

I believe that in the foregoing list the only 
name requiring further explanation is the name 
Shorai-tombo, or Shoryd-tombo, in its meaning 
of " the Dragon-fly of the Dead." Unlike the 
equally weird name Yurei-tombo, or '' Ghost 
Dragon-fly," the term Shorai-tombo does not re- 
fer to the appearance of the insect, but to the 
strange belief that certain dragon -flies are ridden 
by the dead, — used as winged steeds. From the 
morning of the thirteenth to the midnight of 
the fifteenth day of the old seventh month, — 
the time of the Festival of the Bon, — the 



Dragon-flies 91 

dragon-flies are said to carry the Hotoke-Sama, 
the August Spirits of the Ancestors, who then 
revisit their former homes. Therefore during 
this Buddhist " All-Souls," children are forbidden 
to molest any dragon-flies, — especially dragon- 
flies that may then happen to enter the family 
dwelling. This supposed relation of dragon -flies 
to the supernatural world helps to explain an old 
folk saying, still current in some provinces, to the 
eflfect that the child who catches dragon -flies will 
never ''obtain knowledge." Another curious 
belief is that certain dragon-flies " carry the 
image of Kwannon-Sama (Avalokitesvara)," 
— because the markings upon the backs of the 
insects bear some faint resemblance to the form 
of a Buddhist icon. 

II 

Different kinds of dragon-fly show themselves 
at diflferent periods ; and the more beautiful spe- 
cies, with few exceptions, are the latest to appear. 
All Japanese dragon -flies have been grouped by 
old writers into four classes, according to the 
predominant color of each variety, — the Yellow, 
Green (or Blue), Black (or Dark), and Red 



92 Japanese Miscellany 

Dragon -flies. It is said that the yellow-marked 
insects are the earliest to appear ; that the green, 
blue, and black varieties first show themselves in 
the Period of Greatest Heat; and that the red 
kinds are the last to come and the last to go, — 
vanishing only with the close of autumn. In a 
vague and general way, these statements can be 
accepted as results of observation. Nevertheless, 
the dragon-fly is popularly spoken of as a crea- 
ture of autumn : indeed one of its many names, 
Akitsu-mushi, signifies '' autumn insect." And 
the appellation is really appropriate ; for it is not 
until the autumn that dragon-flies appear in such 
multitude as to compel attention. For the poet, 
however, the true dragon-fly of autumn is the red 

dragon-fly : 

Aki no ki no 

Aka-tombo ni 

Sadamarinu. 

That the autumn season has begun is decided by the 
[appearance of the] red dragon-fly. 

Onoga mi ni 

Aki wo somenuku 

Tombo kana ! 

the dragon-fly ! — he has dyed his own body with 
[ the color of] autumn ! 



Dragon-flies 93 

Aki no hi no 
Someta iro nari 
Aka-tombo ! 



Dyed he is with the color of autumn days — the red 
dragon-fly ! 



** Spring," says a Japanese poet, " is the Season 
of the Eyes ; Autumn is the Season of the Ears," 
— meaning that in spring the blossoming of the 
trees and the magic of morning haze make de- 
light for the eyes, and that in autumn the ears 
are charmed by the music of countless insects. 
But he goes on to say that this pleasure of 
autumn is toned with melancholy. Those plain- 
tive voices evoke the memory of vanished years 
and of vanished faces, and so to Buddhist 
thought recall the doctrine of impermanency- 
Spring is the period of promise and of hope ; 
autumn, the time of remembrance and of regret. 
And the coming of autumn's special insect, the 
soundless dragon-fly, — voiceless in the season 
of voices, — only makes weirder the aspects of 
change. Everywhere you see a silent play of 
fairy lightnings, — flashes of color continually 
intercrossing, like a weaving of interminable 



94 Japanese Miscellany 

enchantment over the face of the land. Thus 
an old poet describes it : — 

Kurenai no 
Kagero hashiru, 
Tombo kana ! 

Like a fleeting of crimson gossamer-threads, the flashing 
of the dragon-flies. 



Ill 

For more than ten centuries the Japanese have 
been making verses about dragon-flies ; and the 
subject remains a favorite one even with the 
younger poets of to-day. The oldest extant 
poem about a dragon-fly is said to have been 
composed, fourteen hundred and forty years 
ago, by the Emperor Yiiriaku. One day while 
this Emperor was hunting, say the ancient 
records, a gadfly came and bit his arm. There- 
with a dragon-fly pounced upon that gadfly, 
and devoured it. Then the Emperor com- 
manded his ministers to make an ode in praise 
of that dragon-fly. But as they hesitated how 
to begin, he himself composed a poem in praise 
of the insect, ending with the words, — 



Dragon-flies 9$ 

" Even a creeping insect 
Waits upon the Great Lord : 
Thy form it will bear, 
O Yamato, land of the dragon-fly ! " 

And in honor of the loyal dragon-fly, the place 
of the incident was called Akitsuno, or the Moor 
of the Dragon-fly. 

The poem attributed to the Emperor Yuriaku 
is written in the form called naga-uta, or " long- 
poetry " ; but the later poems on dragon -flies 
are mostly composed in the briefer forms of 
Japanese verse. There are three brief forms, — 
the ancient tanka, consisting of thirty-one sylla- 
bles ; the popular dodoitsu, consisting of twenty- 
six syllables; and the hokku, consisting of only 
seventeen. The vast majority of dragon-fly 
poems are in hokku. There are scarcely any 
poems upon the subject in dodoitsu, and — 
strange to say! — but very few in the classical 
tanka. The friend who collected for me all 
the verses quoted in this essay, and many hun- 
dreds more, declares that he read through fifty- 
two volumes of thirty-one- syllable poetry in 
the Imperial Library before he succeeded in 
finding a single composition about dragon-flies; 



96 Japanese Miscellany 

and eventually, after much further research, he 
was able to discover only about a dozen such 
poems in tanka. 

The reason for this must be sought in the 
old poetical conventions. Japanese thirty -one- 
syllable poetry is composed according to rules 
that have been fixed for hundreds of years. 
These rules require that almost every subject 
treated shall be considered in some relation to 
one of the seasons. And this should be done in 
accordance with certain laws of grouping, — long- 
established conventions of association, recognized 
both in painting and in poetry: for example, 
the nightingale should be mentioned, or por- 
trayed, together with the plum-tree ; the sparrow, 
with the bamboo; the cuckoo, with the moon; 
frogs, with rain ; the butterfly, with flowers ; the 
bat, with the willow-tree. Every Japanese child 
knows something about these regulations. Now, 
it so happens that no such relations have been 
clearly fixed for the dragon-fly in /^;z^^-poetry, 
— though in pictures we often see it perched on 
the edge of a water-bucket, or upon an ear 
of ripened rice. Moreover, in the classification 
of subject-groupings for poetry, the dragon-fly 
is not placed among musM ('Mnsects" — by 



Dragon-flies 97 

which word the poet nearly always means a 
musical insect of some sort) , but among zo, — 
a term of very wide signification ; for it includes 
the horse, cat, dog, monkey, crow, sparrow, tor- 
toise, snake, frog, — almost all fauna, in short. 

Thus the rarity of tanka-potms about dragon- 
flies may be explained. But why should dragon - 
flies be almost ignored in dodoitsu? Probably 
for the reason that this form of verse is usually 
devoted to the subject of love. The voiceless 
dragon-fly can suggest to the love-poet no such 
fancies as those inspired by the singing-insects, — 
especially by those night-crickets whose music 
lingers in the memory of some evening tryst. 
Out of several hundred dragon-fly poems col- 
lected for me, I find only seven relating, directly 
or indirectly, to the subject of love ; and not one 
of the seven is in twenty -six-syllable verse. 

But in the form hokktt — limited to seventeen 
syllables — the poems on dragon-flies are almost 
as numerous as are the dragon-flies themselves 
in the early autumn. For in this measure there 
are few restraints placed upon the composer, 
either as to theme or method. Almost the only 
rule about hokku, — not at all a rigid one, — is 
that the poem shall be a little word-picture, — 
7 



98 Japanese Miscellany 

that it shall revive the memory of something 
seen or felt, — that it shall appeal to some ex- 
perience of sense. The greater number of the 
poems that I am going to quote certainly fulfil 
this requirement: the reader will find that they 
are really pictures, — tiny color-prints in the 
manner of the Ukiyo-ye school. Indeed almost 
any of the following could be delightfully imaged, 
with a few touches of the brush, by some Japa- 
nese master : — 

Picture-poems about Dragon-flies 

Ine no ho no 
Tombo tomari 
Tarenikeri. 

An ear of rice has bent because a dragon-fly perched 
upon it. 

Tombo no 
Eda ni tsuitari 
Wasure-guwa. 

See the dragon-fly resting on the handle of the forgotten 
mattock .1 



* The kuwa is shaped like a hoe, but is a much heavier tool. When 
left with the heavy blade resting flat upon the ground, as suggested in 
this little word-picture, the handle remains almost perpendicular. 



Dragon-flies 99 

Tombo no 
Kaide yukikeri 
Sute waraji. 

Dragon-flies have gone to sniff at a pair of cast-oflf 
sandals of straw. 

Sode ni tsuku 
Sumi ka? — obana ni 
Kane -tombo ! 

Is it an inic-stain upon a sleeve? — no: it is only the 
black dragon-fly resting upon the obana. ^ 

Hi wa naname 
Sekiya no yari ni 
Tombo kana ! 

See the dragon-fly perching on the blade of the spear 
leaning against the rampart-wall ! 

Tombo no 
Kusa ni undeya, 
Ushi no tsuno ! 

O dragon-fly ! how have you wearied of the grass that 
you should thus perch upon the horn of a cow ! 



1 Obana is another name for the beautiful flowering grass usually 
called susuki, and known to botanists as Eularia Japonica. 



100 Japanese Miscellany 

Kaki-dake no 

Ippon nagaki — 

Tombo kana ! 

One of the bamboo-stakes in that fence seems to be 
higher than the others — but no ! there is a dragon-fly 
upon it ! 

Kaki-dake to 

Tombo to utsuru 

Shoji kana ! 

The shadow of the bamboo-fence, with a dragon-fly at 
rest upon it, is thrown upon my paper-window ! 



Tsurigane ni 

Hito-toki yasumi 

Tombo kana ! 

See ! the dragon-fly is resting awhile upon the temple- 
bell ! 

O WO motte 
Kane ni mukaeru, — 
Tombo kana ! 

Only with his tail he thinks to oppose [the weight of^ 
the great temple-bell, — silly dragon-fly ! 



Dragon-flies 101 

Naki-hito no 
Shirushi no take ni 
Tombo kana ! 

Lo 1 a dragon-fly rests upon the bamboo that marks the 
grave ! 

Itte wa kite 
Tombo taezu 
Fune no tsuna. 

About the ropes of the ship the dragon-flies cease not to 
come and go. 

Tombo ya 
Fune wa nagarete 
Todomarazu. 

The dragon-fly ceases not to flit about the vessel drifting 
down the stream. 

Tombo ya ! 

Hobashira ate ni 

Toku yuku. 

O the dragon-fly ! — keeping an eye upon the mast, he 
ventures far ! 

Tombo ya ! 
Hi no kage dekite, 
Nami no ue. 

Poor dragon-fly ! — now that the sun has become ob- 
scured, he wanders over the waves. 



102 Japanese Miscellany 

Wata-tori no 

Kasa ya tombo no 

Hitotsu-zutsu. 

Look at the bamboo-hats of the cotton-pickers ! — there 
is a dragon-fly perched on each of them ! 

Nagare-yuku 

Awa ni yume miru 

Tombo kana ! 

Lo 1 the dragon-fly dreams a dream above the flowing 
of the foam-bubbles ! 

Uki-kusa no 

Hana ni asobu ya, 

Aka-tombo ! 

See the red dragon-fly sporting about the blossoms of 
the water-weed ! 

Tombo no 
Hitoshio akashi 
Fuchi no ue. 

Much more red seems the red dragon-fly when hovering 
above the pool. 

Tsuri-beta no 

Sao ni kite neru 

Tombo kana ! 

See ! the dragon-fly settles down to sleep on the rod of 
the unskilful angler ! 



Dragon-flies 10? 

Tombo no 
Ha-ura ni sabishi, — 
Aki-shigure. 

Lonesomely clings the dragon-fly to the underside of the 
leaf — Ah ! the autumn-rains ! 

Tombo no 
To bakari tsuku 
Kara-e kana ! 

Only ten dragon-flies — all clinging to the same withered 
spray ! 

Yosogoto no 

Naruko ni nigeru, 

Tombo kana ! 

Poor dragon-fly! scared away by the clapper* that 
never was intended for you ! 

Ao-zora ya, 
Ka hodo mure-tobu 
Aka-tombo. 

High in the azure sky the gathering of red dragon-flies 
looks like a swarming of mosquitoes » 



I Naruko. This clapper, used to frighten away birds from the 
crops, consists of a number of pieces of bamboo, or hard wood, fas- 
tened to a rope extended across the field or garden. When the end of 
the rope is pulled, the pieces of wood rattle loudly. 



104 Japanese Miscellany 

Furu-haka ya ; 
Aka-tombo tobu ; 
Kare shikimi. 

Old tomb ! — [onlf] a flitting of red dragon-flies ; — some 
withered [offerings of] shikimi i [before the grave] ! 



Sabishisa wo ! 
Tombo tobu nari 
Haka no ue. 

Desolation ! — dragon-flies flitting above the graves ! 

Tombo tonde, 
Koto-naki mura no 
Hi go nari. 

Dragon-flies are flitting, and the noon-sun is shining, 
above the village where nothing eventful ever happens. 

YiJzuki hi 
Usuki tombo no 
Ha-kage kana ! 

O the thin shadow of the dragon-fly's wings in the light 
of sunset I 



' It is the custom to set sprays of shikimi in bamboo vases before 
the graves of Buddhist dead. This shikimi is a kind of anise, botani- 
cally known as Illicium religiosum. 



Dragon-flies iOS 

Tombo no 
Kabe wo kakayuru 
Nishi-hi kana ! 

that sunlight from the West, and the dragon-fly cling- 
ing to the wall ! 

Tombo toru 
Iri-hi ni tori no 
Metsuki kana ! 

O the expression of that cock's eyes in the sunset-light 
— trying to catch a dragon-fly ! 



Tombo no 
Mo ya iri-hi no 
Issekai. 

Dance, O dragon-flies, in your world of the setting sun ! 



Nama-kabe ni 
Yii-hi sasunari 
Aka-tomb5. 

To the freshly-plastered wall a red dragon-fly clings in 
the light of the setting-sun .1 



* This is a tiny color-study. The tint of the freshly-plastered wall 
is supposed to be a warm grey. 



106 Japanese Miscellany 

Deru tsuki to 

Iri-hi no ai ya — 

Aka-tombo. 

In the time between the setting of the sun and the rising 
of the moon — red dragon-flies. 

Yu-kage ya, 
Nagare ni hitasu 
Tombo no o ! 

The dragon-fly at dusk dips her tail into the running 
stream. 



IV 



The foregoing compositions are by old authors 
mostly : few modern hokku on the subject have 
the same naive quality of picturesqueness. The 
older poets seem to have watched the ways of 
the dragon-fly with a patience and a freshness of 
curiosity impossible to this busier generation. 
They made verses about all its habits and pecu- 
liarities, — even about such matters as the queer 
propensity of the creature to return many times 
in succession to any spot once chosen for a perch. 
Sometimes they praised the beauty of its wings, 



Dragon-flies 107 

and compared them to the wings of devas or 
Buddhist angels; sometimes they celebrated the 
imponderable grace of its hovering, — the ghostly 
stillness and lightness of its motion ; and some- 
times they jested about its waspish appearance 
of anger, or about the goblin oddity of its stare. 
They noticed the wonderful way in which it can 
change the direction of its course, or reverse the 
play of its wings with the sudden turn that sug- 
gested the modern Japanese word for a somer- 
sault, — tombogaeri ("dragon -fly -turning ")} In 
the dazzling rapidity of its flight — invisible but 
as a needle-gleam of darting color — they found 
a similitude for impermanency. But they per- 
ceived that this lightning flight was of short 
duration, and that the dragon-fly seldom travels 
far, unless pursued, preferring to flit about one 
spot all day long. Some thought it worth while 
to record in verse that at sunset all the dragon - 
flies flock towards the glow, and that they rise 
high in air when the sun sinks below the horizon, 
— as if they hoped to obtain from the altitudes 
one last sight of the vanishing splendor. They 

1 Tombogaeri wo utsu, " to throw a dragon-fly-turning " 
is the Japanese expression corresponding with our phrase, 
•* to turn a somersault." 



108 Japanese Miscellany 

remarked that the dragon-fly cares nothing- for 
flowers, and is apt to light upon stakes or stones 
rather than upon blossoms; and they wondered 
what pleasure it could find in resting on the rail 
of a fence or upon the horn of a cow. Also they 
marvelled at its stupidity when attacked with 
sticks or stones, — as often flying toward the 
danger as away from it. But they sympathized 
with its struggles in the spider's net, and rejoiced 
to see it burst through the meshes. The follow- 
ing examples, selected from hundreds of compo- 
sitions, will serve to suggest the wide range of 
these curious studies: — 

Dragon -FLIES and Sunshine 

Tombo ya, 
Hi no sasu katae 
Tate-yuku ! 

dragon-fly ! ever towards the sun you rise and soar I 

Hiatari no 
Dote ya hinemosu 
Tombo tobu. 

Over the sunlit bank, all day long, the dragon-flies flit to 
and fro. 



Dragon-flies 109 

Go-roku shaku 
Onoga kumoi no 
Tombo kana ! 

Poor dragon-fly ! — the [blue] space of five or six feet 
[above him] he thinks to be his own sky ! 

Tombo no 
Muki wo soroeru 
Nishi-hi kana ! 

Ah, the sunset-glow ! Now all the dragon-flies are 
shooting in the same direction. 



Tomb5 ya ! 

Sora e hanarete 

Kurekakari. 

Dusk approaches: see! the dragon-flies have risen 
toward the sky ! 

Hoshi hitotsu 

Miru made asobu 

Tombo kana ! 

O dragon-fly ! you continue to sport until the first star 
appears 1 



110 Japanese Miscellany 

Flight of Dragon-flies 

To yama ya, 
Tombo tsui-yuki, 
Tsui-kaeru. 

Quickly the dragon-fly starts for the distant mountain 5 
but as quickly returns. 

Yukiote, 
Dochiramo soreru 
Tombo kana ! 

Meeting in flight, how wonderfully do the dragon-flies 
glance away from each other ! 

Narabu ka to 

Miete wa soreru 

Tombo kana ! 

Lo ! the dragon-flies that seemed to fly in line all scatter 
away from each other. 

Mentioned in Love-Songs 

Kagero no 
Kage tomo ware wa 

Nari ni keri 
Aruka nakika no 
Kimi ga nasake ni. 



Dragon-flies 111 

Even as the shadow of a dragon-fly 1 1 have become, by 
reason of the slightness of your love. 

Obotsu kana ! 
Yume ka ? utsusu ka ? 

Kagero no 
Honomeku yori mo 
Hakanakarishi wa ! 

O my doubt ! Is it a dream or a reality ? — more fugitive 
than even the dim flitting of a dragon-fly ! 2 

Tombo ya ! 
Mi wo mo kogasazu, 
Naki mo sezu ! 

Happy dragon-fly ! —never self -consumed by longing,— 
never even uttering a cry ! 



Strangeness and Beauty 

Tombo no 
Kao wa okata 
Medama kana ! 

O the face of the dragon-fly! — almost nothing but 
eyes! 



1 The word kagero here means " dragon-fly." There Is another word 
kagero meaning "gossamer." Though written alike in Romaji, these 
two terms are represented in Japanese by very different characters. 

2 The thought suggested is, — "Can it be true that we were ever 
united, even for a moment? " 



112 Japanese Miscellany 

Koe naki wo, 
Tombo munen ni 
Miyuru kana ! 

O dragon-fly! you appear to be always angry because 
you have no voice! 

Semi ni makenu 
Hagoromo mochishi, 
Tombo kana ! 

O dragon-fly ! the celestial raiment ^ you possess is no- 
wise inferior to that of the cicada ! 



Lightness of Dragon-flies 

Tsubame yori 
Tombo wa mono mo 
Ugokasazu. 

More lightly even than the swallow does the dragon-fly 
touch things without moving them. 

Tombo ya, 
Tori no fumarenu 
Eda no saki ! 



^ Literally " feather-robe " (hagoromo) ; — this is the name gfiven 
to the raiment supposed to be worn by the "Sky-People" — angelic 
Inhabitants of the Buddhist heaven. The hagoromo enables its 
wearer to soar through space ; and the poet compares the wings of the 
beautiful insect to such a fairy robe. 



Dragon-flies 11 J 

O dragon-fly, you perch on the tip of the spray where 
never a bird can tread ! 



Stupidity of Dragon-flies 

Utsu-tsue no 

Saki ni tomarishi, 

Tombo kana ! 

O dragon-fly ! you light upon the end of the very stick 
with which one tries to strike you down ! 

Tachi-kaeru 
Tombo tomaru 
Tsubute kana ! 

See! the dragon-fly returns to perch upon the pebble 
that was thrown at it ! 



Dragon-flies and Spiders 

Kumonosu no 
Atari ni asobu 
Tombo kana ! 

Ah! the poor dragon-fly, sporting beside the spider's 
web! 



114 Japanese Miscellany 

Sasagami no 

Ami no hazurete, 

Tombo kana ! 

Good dragon-fly ! — he has extricated himself from the 
net of the spider ! 

Kumo gaki mo 
Yaburu kihoi ya, 
Oni -tombo ! 

Through even the spider's fence he has force to burst 
his way ! — the demon-dragon-fly ! 



Heedless of Flowers 

Tombo ya ! 
Hana-no ni mo me wa 
Hosorasezu. 

Ah, the dragon-fly! even in the flower-field he never 
half-shuts his eyes ! i 

Tombo ya ! 
Hana ni wa yorade, 
Ishi no ue. 

O the dragon-fly ! — heedless of the flowers, he lights 
upon a stone ! 



* Alluding to the fact that one half-closes one's eyes, — in order to 
shadow them, and so to see more distinctly, — when looking at some 
beautiful object. — Perhaps the rendering, "never makes his eyes 
narrower," would better express the exact sense of the original. 



Dragon-flies 11? 

Tombo ya ! 

Hana naki kui ni 

Sumi-narai. 

Ah, the dragon-fly ! content to dwell upon a flowerless 
stake ! 

Neta ushi no 
Tsuno ni hararenu, 
Yamma kana ! 

O great dragon-fly ! will you never leave the horn of 
the sleeping ox ? 

Kui no saki 
Nanika ajiwo 
Tombo kana ? 

O dragon-fly I what can you be tasting on the top of 
that fence-stake ? 

Of course these compositions make but slight 
appeal to aesthetic sentiment : they are merely 
curious, for the most part. But they help us to 
understand something of the soul of the elder 
Japan. The people who could find delight, cen- 
tury after century, in watching the ways of in- 
sects, and in making such verses about them, 
must have comprehended, better than we, the 
simple pleasure of existence. They could not, 



116 Japanese Miscellany 

indeed, describe the magic of nature as our great 
Western poets have done; but they could feel 
the beauty of the world without its sorrow, and 
rejoice in that beauty, much after the manner of 
inquisitive and happy children. 

If they could have seen the dragon-fly as we 
can see it, — if they could have looked at that 
elfish head with its jewelled ocelli, its marvellous 
compound eyes, its astonishing mouth, under the 
microscope, — how much more extraordinary 
would the creature have seemed to them ! . . . 
And yet, though wise enough to have lost that 
fresh naive pleasure in natural observation which 
colors the work of these quaint poets, we are 
not so very much wiser than they were in regard 
to the real wonder of the insect. We are able 
only to estimate more accurately the immensity 
of our ignorance concerning it. Can we ever 
hope for a Natural History with colored plates 
that will show us how the world appears to the 
faceted eyes of a dragon-fly ? 



Catching dragon-flies has been for hundreds of 
years a favorite amusement of Japanese children. 



Dragon-flies 117 

ft begins with the hot season, and lasts during the 
greater part of the autumn. There are many old 
poems about it, — describing the recklessness of 
the little hunters. To-day, just as in other cen- 
turies, the excitement of the chase leads them 
into all sorts of trouble : they tumble down em- 
bankments, and fall into ditches, and scratch and 
dirty themselves most fearfully, — heedless of 
thorns or mud-holes or quagmires, — heedless of 
heat, — heedless even of the dinner-hour : — 

Meshi-doki mo 
Modori wasurete, 
Tombo-tsuri ! 

Even at the hour of the noon-day meal they forget to 
return home, — the children catching dragon-flies ! 

Hadaka-go no 

Tombo tsuri-keri 

Hiru no tsuji ! 

The naked child has been catching dragon-flies at the 
road-crossing, — heedless of the noon-sun! 

But the most celebrated poem in relation to this 
amusement is of a touching character. It was 



118 Japanese Miscellany . 

written by the famous female poet, Chiyo of 
Kap, after the death of her little boy: — 

Tombo-tsuri ! — 
Kyo wa doko made 
Itta yara ! 

"Catching dragon-flies 1 ... I wonder where he has 
gone to-day I " 

The verse is intended to suggest, not to express, 
the emotion of the mother. She sees children 
running after dragon- flies, and thinks of her own 
dead boy who used to join in the sport, — and 
so finds herself wondering, in presence of the 
infinite Mystery, what has become of the little 
soul. Whither has it gone ? — in what shadowy 
play does it now find delight } 

Dragon-flies are captured sometimes with nets, 
sometimes by means of bamboo rods smeared 
at the end with birdlime, sometimes even by 
striking them down with a light stick or switch. 
The use of a switch, however, is not commonly 
approved ; for the insect is thereby maimed, and 
to injure it unnecessarily is thought to be unlucky, 
— by reason, perhaps, of its supposed relation to 



Dragon-flies 119 

the dead. A very successful method of dragon- 
fly-catching — practised chiefly in the Western 
provinces — is to use a captured female dragon- 
fly as a decoy. One end of a long thread is 
fastened to the insect's tail, and the other end 
of the thread to a flexible rod. By moving the 
rod in a particular way the female can be kept 
circling on her wings at the full length of the 
thread; and a male is soon attracted. As soon 
as he clings to the female, a slight jerk of the 
rod will bring both insects into the angler's hand. 
With a single female for lure, it is easy to cap- 
ture eight or ten males in succession. 

During these dragon-fly hunts the children 
usually sing little songs, inviting the insect to ap- 
proach. There are many such dragon-fly songs ; 
and they differ according to province. An Izumo 
song of this class ^ contains a curious allusion to 
the traditional conquest of Korea in the third 
century by the armies of the Empress Jingo; 
the male dragon-fly being thus addressed : — 
" Thou, the male, King of Korea, art not 
ashamed to flee from the Queen of the East ? " 



1 Cited in Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan; vol. II., p. 
372. 



120 Japanese Miscellany 

In Tokyo to-day the little dragon-fly hunters 
usually sing the following: — 

Tombo! tombol 

O-tomari ! — 
Ashita no ichi ni, 
Shiokara kote, 

Neburasho ! 

Dragon-fly 1 dragon-fly ! honorably wait I — to-mor- 
row at the market I will buy some shiskara and let you 
lick it I 

Children also find amusement in catching the 
larva of the dragon-fly. This larva has many 
popular names; but is usually called in Tokyo 
taiko-mushi, or *' drum-insect," because it moves 
its forelegs in the water somewhat as a man 
moves his arms while playing upon a drum. 

A most extraordinary device for catching 
dragon-flies is used by the children of the prov- 
ince of Kii. They get a long hair, — a woman's 
hair, — and attach a very small pebble to each 
end of it, so as to form a miniature " bolas " ; 
and this they sling high into the air. A dragon- 
fly pounces upon the passing object; but the 



Dragon-flies 121 

moment that he seizes it, the hair twists round 
his body, and the weight of the pebbles brings 
him to the ground. I wonder whether this 
method of bolassing dragon-flies is known any- 
where outside of Japan. 



Buddhist Names of Plants 
and Animals 



Buddhist Names of Plants 
and Animals 



AT one time I hoped to compile a glossary of 
the Buddhist names given to Japanese 
animals and plants ; and I began to col- 
lect material for the work. But I then knew very 
little about the real difficulties of such an under- 
taking. To mention only one, I may observe 
that in almost every province of Japan the folk- 
speech is diflferent; and the difference appears 
even in the names given to certain plants, insects, 
reptiles, fishes, and birds. Such names must be 
learned, of course, from the lips of peasants and 
of fishermen; and that which I wished to do 
could never be well done except through the 
patient labors of a folklore society. And now I 
find that, instead of being able to prepare the 
glossary intended, I must content myself with a 
few general notes upon the subject. 
125 



126 Japanese Miscellany 

But perhaps these notes — relics of an under- 
taking for which I possessed neither the requisite 
scholarship nor the means — will have at least 
a suggestive worth to future explorers in this 
unfamiliar region of Far-Eastern folklore. 

The name Buddha appears in the appellations 
of several trees and plants. Marubusbukan, or 
** Round-Fingers-of-Buddha," is the name of a 
kind of lemon-tree, — so called from the very re- 
markable shape of its fruit. The Chinese hibis- 
cus is called Bussoge, or '' Buddha's mulberry " ; 
and a variety of rock -moss is popularly known 
by the picturesque names of Hotoke-no-tsume 
and Bukkoso, — both signifying '' Finger-nails of 
Buddha." A kind of yam is called Tsukune-imo, 
— which appellation, as written with the proper 
Chinese characters, signifies '' Buddha's-hand po- 
tato " ; and a variety of clover is honored by the 
name Hotoke-no-^a, or '' Buddha's-throne." 

Names of Bodhisattvas and of other Buddhist 
divinities are also to be found in the appellations 
of plants and animals. The name of Kwannon 
(Avalokitesvara) appears in the term Kwannon- 



Buddhist Names 127 

chihu, or '' Bamboo of Kwannon " ; and several 
different plants are known, in different provinces, 
by the name Kwannon-so, or '' Herb of Kwan- 
non." The name of Fugen (Samantabhadra) 
has been given to a variety of cherry-tree, — the 
Fugen-:{akura, or " Fugen's cherry-tree." The 
name of Dai-Mokukenren (Mahamaudgalyayana), 
— shortened by popular usage into Mokuren, — 
figures both in the common appellation of the 
Ficus pumila, known as Mokuren, and in that of 
the Magnolia conspicua, usually called Hakii- 
mokuren, or *' White-Mokuren." The name of 
Brahma, — known to Japanese Buddhism as Bon- 
ten, — appears in the designation of a kind of 
upland rice, Bont en-mat. The memory of Bo- 
dai-Daruma (Bodhidharma) is preserved in the 
popular appellation of the Aster spatiifolium, 
called Daruma-giku, or " Daruma's chrysanthe- 
mum," — as well as in the name of the swamp- 
cabbage, Daruma-so, or '* Daruma's plant." Two 
fishes also have been named after this patriarch : 
the Pr (acanthus Niphonius, which is called Da- 
ruma-dai, or " Daruma's sea-bream " ; and the 
Synanceia erosa, popularly known as Daruma- 
hasago, — *'kasago" being properly the name 
of the fish scientifically called sehastes inermis. 



128 Japanese Miscellany 

More curious than any of the above terms, how- 
ever, is the popular name for a species of grain- 
weevil, Kokuio, — " Kokuzo " being the Japanese 
appellation of the great Bodhisattva Akasapra- 
tishthita. 

The term Bosatsu (Bodhisattva) also appears 
in some plant-names. A variety of rose is 
known as the Bosatsu-ibara, or *' Thorny-Rose 
of the Bodhisattva"; and a kind of rice is 
called Bosatsu. 

The term Rakan (Arhat) forms a prefix to 
several plant-names. Rakan-haku, or " Arhat's 
oak," is the popular name of the Thuya dolo- 
brata. Rakan-sho, or " Arhat's Pine," is the 
common appellation of the Podocarpus macro- 
phylla; and the name Rakan-maki, or " Arhat's 
maW ("maki" being the Japanese name for 
the podocarpus chinensis) — has been given to 
the umbrella-pine. And the fruit of a tree, of 
which I cannot find the scientific name, is called in 
several provinces Rakan, or " the Arhat," because 
it curiously resembles in shape the rude stone 
images of Arhats set up in temple-gardens. 

Kukai, or Kobodaishi, the great Japanese patri- 
arch of the Shingon sect, also has a place in this 



Buddhist Names 129 

nomenclature. Kobo-mugi, or " Vv^heat of Kobo- 
daishi," is a common name for the Car ex mac- 
rocephala ; and a variety of chestnut is called 
Kobodaishi - kawa^u -no-kuri, — '' The Chestnut 
that Kobodaishi did not eat." 

Many names of plants or living creatures refer 
to Buddhist customs, legends, rites, or beliefs. 
The word boiu, ** priest " — (the origin of our 
word " bonze ") — has been attached to several 
plant-names. No less than three different herbs 
are known, in diflferent parts of the country, by 
the name of Bo^ugusa, or " Priest -grass." In 
the dialect of Chikuzen a kind of turtle is called 
Umi-boiu, or "Priest of the Sea," — a name, 
by the way, also given to a mythical marine- 
monster, often represented in Japanese picture- 
books. The name of the famous Bo-tree of 
Buddhist tradition has been given in Japan, not 
only to the Ficus religiosa, but also to the 
Tilia miqueliana, popularly called Bodaiju 
(Bodhidruma) . The great Buddhist festival of 
the spring-equinox, the festival of the Higan, 
or " Further Shore," has furnished names for 
two plants which blossom about that time, — the 
Higan-iakura or '' Higan cherry-tree " {Primus 
9 



130 Japanese Miscellany 

miqiieliana) , and the Higan-bana, or ''Flower 
of Higan " {Lycoris radiata). What we term 
" Job's Tears " are in Japan Called Zuiudama, 
or Buddhist rosary-beads ; and a kind of dove 
is known — probably because of its markings 
— as the Zu^ukake-hato, or " Rosary-bearing 
Dove." The Allium vidoriale is called Gyoja- 
ninniku, or "Hermit's garlic" (" gy oja " being 
the Buddhist term for hermit) ; and the popu- 
lar Japanese name for the Bleeding-heart is 
Keman-so, or '' Keman-htrh,'' — an appellation 
probably due to the resemblance of the flower 
to the Keman, or decoration, placed upon the 
head of the statue of Buddha. Perhaps the 
water-arum has the most curious of all such 
Buddhist appellations : its Japanese name, Koku- 
len-so literally signifies the " Small-sitting-in- 
Dhyana-meditation-plant. " 

The word Sennm, — commonly translated as 
" Genius " or " Fairy," but originally meaning 
Rishi, — a being who has acquired supernatural 
power and unlimited life by force of ascetic 
practices, — occasionally appears in plant-names. 
A variety of Clematis is known as Sennin-so, 
or " Fairy-weed " ; and a kind of cactus has 



Buddhist Names 131 

received the grotesque appellation of Sennin-sho, 
or "Sennin's-Palm," — the palm of the hand 
being referred io. 

The Sanscrit term Yaksha, signifying a man- 
devouring demon, appears in several plant-names 
under its Japanese form, — Yaslm. The cone 
of the Aldus fir ma is picturesquely called Yasha- 
hushi, or " Yaksha's-joint " ; and a water-plant 
is known by the curious name of Yasha-hishaku, 
or " Yaksha's Ladle." 

Very many Japanese names of vegetables, 
birds, fishes, and insects, have attached to them 
as a prefix the word Oni, a Buddhist term for 
''demon" or ''devil," — just as in English folk- 
speech we have such names for plants and insects 
as " Devil's-apron, " "Devil-wood," " Devil's- 
fingers," " Devil's-horse," and " Devil's- darning- 
needle." The tiger-lily is known in Japan by 
the equally fantastic name of Oni-yuri, or 
" Devil-lily." A species of coix is called Oni- 
luiudama, or " Devil's rosary -beads." The 
bur-marigold is called Oni-hari, or "Devil's 
needle"; and a water-weed, injurious to lotos- 
cultivation, is popularly termed the Oni-hasu, 
or " Demon-lotos." This prefix of Oni is prob- 



132 Japanese Miscellany 

ably attached to hundreds of folk-names of flora 
and fauna : I have myself collected no less than 
seventy -one examples. Nevertheless, few of 
them are interesting. 

The word Kijin, or Kishin, signifying a kind 
of goblin recognized by Japanese Buddhism, is 
similarly used as a prefix ; — for example, a sort 
of needle-grass is known as Kishin-so, or *' Gob- 
lin-weed." Kijo, another Buddhist word signi- 
fying a kind of female goblin, appears in the 
common name of an orchid, — Kijoran, or 
" Goblin-orchid." Also there is a prefix, Ki, — 
abbreviation of a term for demon or goblin, — 
which sometimes figures in plant-names: the 
Pardanthus chinensis, for instance, is called in 
Japan Kisen, meaning *' Goblin-fan." It is 
worthy of remark that these devilish names are 
given to vegetables or to animals, not merely 
because of some ugly or extraordinary shape, 
but even because of remarkable size. Thus a 
species of lark is called Oni-hihari, or *' Demon- 
lark," because it happens to be a much larger bird 
than the common field-lark ; and a very large kind 
of dragon-fly is designated for the same reason 
Oni-yamma, or " Demon- dragonfly." 



Buddhist Names i?j 

Many Buddhist names, both of creatures and 
of plants, are ghostly. A pretty green grass- 
hopper is called Hotoke-uma, or '' the Buddha- 
horse " ; — the head of the insect curiously 
resembling the head of a horse in shape. But 
the word hotoke also means the spirit of a dead 
person, — all good persons being supposed by 
popular faith to become Buddhas ; — and the real 
meaning of the name Hotoke-uma is ''The Horse 
of the Dead." Now during the great three-days' 
Festival of the Dead in the seventh month, it 
is believed that many spirits revisit their homes, 
or their former friends, either with the help of 
insects or actually in the form of insects. The 
name of this grasshopper really implies that it is 
used as a horse by the shadowy visitors. . . . 
Again, we find the word shoryo, — a general term 
for the spirits of ancestors worshipped according 
to Buddhist rite, — coupled with the name of a 
dragon-fly: Shoryo -yamma, "the Dragon-fly of 
the Ancestral Spirits." Shorai-tomho, or '* Ghost 
Dragon-fly," and Ki-yamma, a term of similar 
meaning, are names likewise intended to suggest 
the relation of the insect to the invisible world. 
Equally weird is the name by which the mole- 
cricket is known in the dialect of Kyoto, — a 



IM Japanese Miscellany 

name probably suggested by the creature's under- 
ground life, — Shorai-mushi, or *' Ghost-insect." 
Among appellations of plants one finds also such 
terms as Yurei-dahe, or '* Ghost -bamboo," and 
Yurei-bana, or " Ghost-flower," — the latter 
name being not inappropriately given to a species 
of delicate mushroom. 

Some of the Buddhist names, although highly 
interesting in themselves, could not be understood 
by the Western reader without the help of picto- 
rial illustration, because they have reference to the 
furniture of temples, or to particular articles used 
in Buddhist religious service. Such, for example, 
is the name of a tree popularly known as Sanko- 
matsu, or " Sanko-pine " ; — the term " Sanko " 
(Sanscrit, Fadjra) signifying a brass object, — 
shaped much like the classic representation of a 
thunderbolt, with prongs at either end, — which 
priests use in certain rites as a symbol of super- 
natural power. Such also is the name Hossugai, 
or " //oss^-shell," given to the beautiful glass- 
sponge, Hyalonema Sieboldii, because of its re- 
semblance to the " hossu," — a brush or duster of 
long white hair used in Buddhist religious service. 
And such, again, is the excellent name of a little 



Buddhist Names 1?? 

insect called the Koromo-semi, or " Priest's-robe 
cicada," because the general form and color of 
the creature, when resting with closed wings, 
really suggest the figure of a priest in his 
♦' koromo." But unless you had seen the insect, 
and the kind of '' koromo " thus referred to, you 
could not appreciate the graphic worth of the 
appellation. 

Very remarkable Buddhist names have been 
given to some species of birds. There is a bird, 
known to ornithologists as Eurystomus orientalis, 
which is called Bupposo, because its cry resembles 
the sound of the word Bupposd. This word is a 
Japanese equivalent for the Sanscrit term Triratna 
or Ratnatraya,—''l\^rtt Jewels"; — the syl- 
lable Bu standing for Butsu, '' the Buddha " ; 
po, for ho, ''iht Law " ; and so, for " the Priest- 
hood." The bird is also called Sambocho, or 
''the Samho-Ux<\ "; — the word " Sambo" being 
a literal translation of Triratna. Another bird, 
of which I do not know the scientific appellation, 
is called the Jihishincho, or '' Compassionate- 
Mind- Bird," —because its call resembles the 
utterance of the phrase Jihi-sUn, " Compassion- 
ate Mind," which forms one of the epithets of 



1?6 Japanese Miscellany 

the Buddha. '' This bird," my informant writes, 
lives only in the neighborhood of Nikko, where 
in the summer it may be heard continually crying 
out, * O thou Compassionate Mind ! -- O thou 
Compassionate Mind ! ' " . . . Almost equally 
interesting is the common Buddhist name for the 
hototogisu {Cuculus poliocephalus) , a species of 
cuckoo much celebrated by Japanese poets. It is 
called Mujo-dori, or **the Bird of Imperma- 
nency." This name would not appear to be 
derived from the bird's note, which is popularly 
interpreted as ** Honion kahetaha ? " — meaning, 
" Has the horizon yet been suspended ? " (The 
** honzon " is the sacred picture displayed in 
temples upon the eighth day of the fourth month, 
— a little before the time at which the bird makes 
its annual appearance.) It seems to me more 
probable that the name was given in the significa- 
tion, " Bird of Death " ; — for the word mujo has 
also the meaning of death as change; and this 
meaning is strongly suggested by the strange fact 
that the hototogisu is supposed to come from the 
spirit-world. It is also called Tama-mukae-dori, 
or the " Ghost -welcoming Bird," because it is 
said to meet and to greet the spirits of the dead 
on their journey over the Mountain of Shide to 



Buddhist Names 137 

the River of Souls. There are many ghostly 
legends and fancies about the hototogisu ; and 
this weird folklore sufficiently explains why the 
bird is known in the provinces by no less than 
fifty -two different names! 

The uguisu, a variety of nightingale, and the 
sweetest-voiced of all Japanese singers, does not 
appear to have any popular Buddhist name ; but 
its flute-like call is said to be an utterance of 
the word Hokkekyo, which is the popular name 
for the Saddharma-Pundarika-Sutra, — the grand 
scripture of the Nichiren or Hokke sect. And 
Buddhist piety asserts that the bird passes its life 
in chanting the praise of the Sutra of the Lotos of 
the Good Law. So that the uguisu is really re- 
garded as a Buddhist bird. Another bird which 
seems to have some relation to Buddhism is the 
snowy heron, to which the extraordinary appella- 
tion of Bonno-sagi, or '' Bonno-htron," has been 
given. " Bonno" is a Buddhist term for worldly 
desire, lust, passion ; and I am not able to say 
v/hy it appears in the name of the bird. 

The difficulty of guessing at the origin of these 
Buddhist names cannot even be imagined without 
the help of examples. The literal meaning, in 



138 Japanese Miscellany 

many cases, serves only to mislead investigation. 
For instance, the hammer-headed shark is known 
on parts of the Kyushu coast by the extraordi- 
nary appellation, Nemhutsu-ho, or '' Nembutsu- 
Priest." The word Nembutsu is the name of the 
invocation, " Namu Amida Butsu ! " — (Saluta- 
tion to the Buddha Amitabha !) — uttered by the 
pious of many sects as a prayer, and especially as 
a prayer for the dead. The grim suggestiveness 
of the name Nembiitsu-bd reminded me that the 
modern French word for shark is, according to 
Littre, only a corruption of '' Requiem," —the 
appellation originally implying (as stated by Pere 
Dutertre in 1667) that for the man caught by 
a shark there was nothing to be done except to 
chant his requiem. But I was wrong in imagin- 
ing that the Buddhist name Nembutsu-bo implied 
something of the same kind. The real meaning 
of the term is proved by another Buddhist name 
for the same monster, — Sbumoku-:{ame, or 
'' Shumoku-sh2iYk." The word *' Shumoku " 
signifies a peculiar " T "-shaped mallet with 
which the priest strikes a gong during the repe- 
tition of the Nembutsu and of other prayers. 
(I may observe that the same kind of mallet is 
used to sound a gong during the chanting of the 



Buddhist Names 139 

Nembiitsu, in some pious households, before the 
family shrine.) It was this use of the mallet 
and gong, during the repetition of the invoca- 
tion, that suggested the term Nembutsu-bo as 
an alternate name for the Shiimoku-^ame, or 
'' Mallet -shark ; " — and the true signification of 
Nembutsu-bo is not " The Nembutsu-Pritst" 
but "The Priest with the Mallet." 



Songs of Japanese Children 



Songs of Japanese Children 



UNDER the influence of twenty-seven 
thousand public schools the old folk- 
literature of Japan, the unwritten litera- 
ture of song and tradition, is rapidly passing out 
of memory. Even within my own recollection 
one variety of this oral literature, partly corre- 
sponding to our own literature of the nursery, has 
been greatly affected by the new order of things. 
When I first came to Japan the children were 
singing the old songs which they had been taught 
by their grandfathers and grandmothers, — the 
home-teaching being usually left to the grand- 
parents. But to-day the little folk, at play in the 
streets or in the temple-courts, are singing new 
songs learned in the class-room, — songs set to 
music written according to the Western scale ; — 
and the far more interesting pre-Meiji songs are 
now but seldom heard. 

143 



144 Japanese Miscellany 

As yet, however, they are not entirely for- 
gotten, — partly because many of them are in- 
separably connected with games that cannot be 
suddenly superseded, — partly because there are 
still alive some millions of delightful grandfathers 
and grandmothers who never studied under 
organ-playing schoolmasters, and who like to 
hear the children repeat the ditties of long ago. 
But I suppose that after these charming old peo- 
ple have been gathered to their ancestors, most of 
the songs which they taught will cease to be sung. 
Happily the Japanese folklorists have been exert- 
ing themselves to preserve such unwritten litera- 
ture ; and their labors have enabled me to attempt 
the present paper. 

Out of a great number of the old-time child - 
songs and nonsense-verses, carefully copied and 
translated for me, I have endeavored to make a 
fairly representative selection, — grouping all the 
examples under six subject-titles, in the following 
order : — 

I. — Songs of Weather and Sky. 

II. — Songs about Animals. 

III. — Miscellaneous Play- Songs. 
IV. — Narrative Songs. 



Songs of Japanese Children 14$ 

V. — Battledoor and Ball Songs. 

VI. — Lullabies. 

The classification is very loose, especially as re- 
gards the third group ; but I think that it is justi- 
fied by the strangely indefinite character of many 
compositions. 

Of course the plain English renderings can give 
an idea of the Japanese verses only as flowers 
pressed and dried between the leaves of a book 
can represent the living blossoms in their natural 
environment. The queer rhythm of the rhyme- 
less lines, the naivete of the Japanese words, the 
curious little airs, — difficult to memorize as 
bird-warblings, — and the sweet freshness of 
many child-voices chanting in unison : these help 
to make the true charm of the original song, and 
all are equally irreproducible. 

A good deal of the exotic may be discovered in 
these cullings ; but the reader will occasionally 
find something to remind him of familiar nursery- 
rhymes. Children, all the world over, think and 
feel in nearly the same way on certain subjects, 
and sing of like experiences. In almost every 
country they sing about the sun and the moon, — 
about wind and rain, — about birds and beasts, — 
about flowers and trees and brooks ; — also about 

10 



146 Japanese Miscellany 

such daily household duties as drawing water, 
making fire, cooking and washing. Yet 1 believe 
that, even within these limits, the differences 
between Japanese child -literature and other child- 
literature will be found more interesting than the 
resemblances. 

I 

SONGS OF WEATHER AND SKY 

C Tokyo Sunset-song.) 

Yu-yake ! 

Ko-yake ! 

Ashita wa tenki ni nare. 

Evening-burning" ! 
Little burning ! 
Weather, be fair to-morrow ! ^ 

" (Kite-flying song — Province of Iga.) 

Tengu San, 
Kaze okure ! 
Kaze ga nakera 
Zeni okure ! 



* This little song is still sung by the children in my neighborhood 
whenever a beautiful sunset occurs. 



Songs of Japanese Children 147 

Tengu San [Lord Mountain-Spiftt] , 
Please to give me some wind ! 
If there be no wind, 
Please give some money ! i 



(Rain-song — Province of Tosa.) 

Ame, ame, furi-yame ! 
O-tera no mae no 
Kaki no ki no moto de 
Kiji no ko ga nakuzo ! 

Rain, rain ! stop falling ! — At the foot of the kaki-irtt 
in front of the temple', the young of the pheasant is crying ! 



(Snow-song — Province of Iga.) 

Yuki wa chira-chira ! 
Kumo wa hai-darake ! 

Snow is fluttering, — chira-chira ! 
The clouds are full of ashes ! 2 



1 In Tokyo the Kttle kite-flyers usually sing, — 
Kaze no kami wa 
Yowai na 1 
(" Ah ! the God of the Wind is weak to-day I ") In Izumo they sing, 

Dai sen no yatna kara 
O-Kaze fuete 1 
Koi yo I 
("Come, August-Wind, and blow from the mountain Daisen 1 ") 
» White ashes of wood are referred to. 



148 Japanese Miscellany 

(Province of I{umo.) 

Yuki ya ! 

Konko ya ! 

Arare ya ! 

Konko ya ! 
Omae no sedo de 
Dango mo nieru, 
Azuki mo nieru, 
Yamado wa modoru, 
Akago wa hoeru, 
Shakushi wa miezu, 
Yare isogashiya na ! 

Snow-grains ! hail-grains ! — In your kitchen dumplings 
are boiling; beans too are boiling; the huntsman is return- 
ing ; the baby is squalling ; the ladle is missing I — O what 
a flurry and worry ! 

(Star-song — Province of Iga.) 

— Hoshi San, Hoshi San ! 
Hitori-boshi de denu monja; 
Sen mo, man mo deru monja. 

— Mr. star, Mr. Star ! 
For a single star to rise alone is not right ; 
Even a thousand, even ten thousand should rise together ! i 



Sung when the first stars begin to twinkle after sundown. 



Songs of Japanese Children 149 

{Moon-song — Province of Shinano.) 

O-Tsuki Sama, 
Kwannon-do orite, 
Mamma agare ! 
— Mamma wa iya-iya : 
Ammo nara mitsu kuryo ! 

— O Lady Moon, 

Come down from over the Temple of Kwannon, 
And help yourself to some boiled rice ! 

— Rice ? no ! I do not like rice. 

But if you have ammochi^ let me have three 1 

{Province of Kii.) 

— O-Tsuki Sama, ikutsu ? 

— Jiu-san hitotsu. 

— Sorya mada wakai *. 
Waka-bune e notte, 
Kara made watare 

— Lady Moon, how old are you ? 

— Thirteen and one. 

— That is still young : 

In the Ship of Youth embarking, 
Cross over the sea to China ! 



1 Rice-cakes stuffed with a mixture of sugar and bean-flour. 



ISO Japanese Miscellany 

(Province of Tosa.) 

— O-Tsuki Sama 
Momo-iro ! 

— Dare ga iuta ? 

— Ama ga iuta. 

— Ama no kuchi wo 
Hikisake ! 

— O Lady Moon, your face is the color of a peach ! — 
Who said so ? — A nun said so. — Pinch and tear the mouth 
of that nun ! 

(Province of Suw5.) 

O-Tsuki Sama, 
O-Tsuki Sama, 
Moshi! moshi! — 
Neko to nezumi ga, 
Issho-daru sagete, 
Fuji-no-yama wo 
Ima koeta ! 

O Lady Moon ! 

Lady Moon ! 

1 say ! I say ! 

A cat and a rat, 

Carrying a one-sh5 barrel [of sak^], 

The Mountain of Fuji 

Just now crossed over ! i 



1 Sung: when a cloud passes over the Mooii. The cat and the rat 
are playful goblins, of course, — such as figure in children's picture- 



Songs of Japanese Children 151 
II 

SONGS ABOUT ANIMALS^ 

Of child-songs about insects and reptiles, birds 
and beasts, the number is surprising, — almost 
every Japanese village having one or two songs 
of its own belonging to this class. The great 
majority are brief compositions of from two to 
eight lines. Some of the better ones recall Eng- 
lish nursery- rhymes on kindred topics, — such 
nursery-rhymes, for example, as, *' Bat, bat, 
come under my hat ! " — ** Lady-bird, lady -bird, 
fly away home!" — ''Cuckoo, cuckoo, what 
do you do } " — "A pie sat on a pear-tree," 
etc., etc. Very probably several of the fol- 
lowing selections are older than most of our 
nursery-rhymes. Variants of nearly all exist in 
multitude. 



1 See also, for a small collection of Izumo songs relating 
to natural history, the chapter ** In a Japanese Garden," in 
my Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan. 



books. The purpose of the song is to make the Moon peep out 
again. 

An Izumo moon-song, more interesting than any of these, will be 
found in my Kokoro, pp. 75-76. 



1?2 Japanese Miscellany 

(Dove-scmg — Tokyo.) 

Hato 
Poppo ! 
Mame ga tabetai.^ 

** Poppo," says the dove, — '* I want to eat some beans." 
(Crow-song — Tokyo.) 

Karasu ! 
Karasu ! 
Kanzaburo ! 
Oya no on wo wasurena yo ! 

O crow! O crow! Kanzaburo!'^ — never forget tht 
goodness of your parents ! 

(Owl-song — Tokyo.) 

Gorosuke-hoko 
Muda-boko ! 

Gorosuke's service, useless service ! 



* Or kuetai. 

* Kanzaburo is a very common form of masculine proper name, — 
here probably given to the bird merely for the sake of the sound. — 
The song was no doubt suggested by the old proverb, Karasu tii hampo 
no kb ari : " The filial duty of feeding one's parents is known even to 
the crow." It is said that the old crows, unable to forage for them- 
selves, are fed by their offspring. — Children sing this song when they 
see the crows flying home at sundown. 



Songs of Japanese Children 1^3 

(Bird-song — Province of he.) 

Suzume wa, Chu-Chu-Chuzaburo! 
Karasu wa, Ka-Ka-Kanzaburo ! 
Tombi wa, Toyama no kanetataki ! 
Ichi nichi tataite ; — 

Kome issho ! 

Awa issho ! 

As for the sparrow, — Chu-Chu-Chuzaburo, 

As for the crow, — Ka-Ka-Kanzaburo ; 

As for the kite,i — the Bell-ringer of Toyama: 

All day he taps his bell, 

[Crying] Rice, one 5^0/2 
Millet, one sbof 

The personal names Kanzaburo, Chuzaburo, 
and Gorosuke, are common names of men. No 
doubt that the sparrow's sharp cry, resembling the 
sound chu, first suggested the use of the name 
Chiizaburo in the foregoing nursery -rhyme ; and 
the crow was probably called Kanzaburo because 
its caw sounds like the syllable Ka} But there 

1 Another version reads, " Tobi wa, To-T6-Tozabur6." Tozaburo, 
like Chuzaburo and Kanzaburo, is a real name. 
^ One sho is equal to about a quart and a half. 



1 I may observe also that the crow is popularly said to 
cry, Kawa! kawa! (" River ! river ! "), — meaning, ** Let 
us go to the river ! " The sound of the cawing really re- 
sembles the sound of the word Kawa. 



1?4 Japanese Miscellany 

is a curious legend about the name given to 
the owl, — Gorosuke. A long time ago, in the 
house of some great samurai, there was a retainer 
called Gorosuke. This Gorosuke was naturally 
dull; and the very first time that a duty of 
importance was confided to him, he made such 
a blunder that serious mischief resulted. There- 
fore everybody laughed at him, and put him to 
shame ; and at last he killed himself. Then his 
spirit took the form of the little owl which now 
bears his name ; and all night long this owl cries 
out, in a tone of utter despair, — 

** Gorosuke's service ! 
Useless service ! " 

(Hare-song — Tokyo,) 

" Usagi, usagi, 
Nani wo mite' haneru ? " 
" Jiu-go-ya no O-Tsuki Sama 
Mite haneru ! 
Hyoi ! 

— "Hare, hare! what do you see that makes you 
jump ? " — " Seeing the Lady-Moon of the fifteenth night, I 
jump! — Hyoi ! hyoi / " i 



* At the words " hyoi ! hyoi ! " all the singers jump together. 



Songs of Japanese Children 155 

{Sparrow-song — Tokyo.) 

Suzume no atsumari : 
Chi-i, chi-l — pappa! 
Dare ni atattemo 
Okoruna yo ! 
Okorunara hajime kara 
Yoran ga yoi. 

Hear the gathering of the sparrows ! — £:H-?, chi-'i, — 
pappa !^ — Be not so angry with everybody who hap- 
pens to touch you ! Better in the beginning not to have 
come at all, than to get angry thus ! 

(Song about the white heron — Province of he.) 

Shirosagi, shirosagi, 
Naze kubi ga nagai ? 

— Hidarute nagai. 

— Hidarukya ta ute. 

— Ta ucha, doro ga tsuku. 

— Doro ga tsukya, harae. 

— Haraya, itai. 

— White-heron, white-heron! why is your neck so 
long? — Because of hunger it became long. — If you are 
hungry, go and till the rice-field. — I should get muddy if I 
were to till the rice-field. — If you get muddy, you can 



I Chi-i is an onomatope invented to describe the angry chirping of 
the sparrow ; pappa signifies the sound of the quick flapping of its 
wings. 



1?6 Japanese Miscellany 

brush the mud off. — If I should brush myself, it would 
hurt me ! 

(Toad- song — Province of Tosa,) 

Hiki-San, Hiki San, dete gonse 
Denya mogusa sueru-zo ! 

Toad, toad, come out of your hole I If you don't come 
out I shall give you a moxa ! 

(Kite-song — Province of I^umo.) 

Tobi ! tobi ! maute mise ! 
Ashita no ban ni, 
Karasu ni kakushite, 
Nezumi yaru ! 

Kite ! kite ! let me see you dance ! To-morrow even- 
ing, without letting the crows see it, 1 shall give you a rat I 

{ Bat-song — Province of I^umo . ) 

Komori, koi ! sake nomasho ! 
Sake ga nakya, taru furasho. 

Bat, come hither, and you will drink some sake! If 
there be no sake [ready], I will pour out some from the 
barrel. 

{Firefly-song — Province ofl^umo.) 

Hotaru koi midzu nomasho : 
Achi no midzu wa nigai zo ; 



Songs of Japanese Children 1?7 

Kochi no midzu wa amai zo ; 
Amai ho e tonde koi ! 

Firefly, come hither, and you shall have water to drink ! 
Yonder the water is bitter ; — here the water is sweet ! 
Come, fly this way, to the sweet side ! 

(Firefly-song — Province of hi.) 

Hotaru, koi ! 
Tsuchi-mushi, koi ! 
Onoga hikari de 
Jo mottekoi ! 

Firefly, come hither I 
Earth-insect,! come ! 
By your own light 
Bring me a letter ! 

( Tokyo.) 

O-wata, koi ! koi ! 
Mame kuwasho ! 
O -mamma ga iyanara, 
Toto kuwasho ! 

Come here, o-wata ! ^ come here ! I will give you beans 
to eat. If there be no boiled rice, then I will give you some 
fish. 



^ Tsuchi-mushi, literally, is "earth-insect" or " earth-worm " ; but 
in this little song it probably means " glow-worm." 

2 The name " o-wata " (honorable cotton) is given to a small purplish 
fly having a fluffy white protuberance on its tail, resembling a tuft of 
cotton. 



158 Japanese Miscellany 

(Butterfly-song .) 

Chocho! chocho! 
Na no ha ni tomare ! 
Na no ha ga iyenara, 
Te ni tomare ! 

Butterfly ! butterfly ! light upon the na-\e2if ! i If you 
do not like the «a-leaf, perch upon my hand ! 

(Tokyo Smg.) 

Chocho, tombo mo, 
Tori no uchi, 
Yama saezuru no wa, 
Matsumushi, 
Suzumushi, 
Kutsuwamushi, 
O-choko choi no choi ! 

The butterfly, and the dragon-fly, too, at the house of 
the bird. Oh, the twittering in the mountains ! The Pine- 
Insect, the Bell-Insect, the Bridle-bit-Insect all together, — 
O-choko choi no cho'i ! 

(Sung hy children chasing dragon-flies.) 

Achi e yuku to, 
Yemma ga niramu ; 



^ The name na is given to several different kinds of vegetables ; 
but the Japanese turnip is probably here referred to. — This song is 
sung In nearly all parts of Japan. 



Songs of Japanese Children 159 

Kochi e kuru to, 
Yurushite yaru zo. 

— If you go that way,i Yemma [or Emma] will glare at 
you ! — if you come this way, I promise to forgive you ! 



(Dragon-fly-song — Tokyo.) 

^ Shio ya ! 
Kane ya ! 
Yamma kaese ! ^ 

Salt Dragon-fly ! — Black Dragon-fly ! — give us back 
the Big Dragon-fly ! 



(Snail-song — Tokyo.) 

Maimaitsubura ! 
O-yuya no mae ni 
Kenkwa ga aru kara 
Tsuno dase, yari dase ! 

O snail I there is a fight in front of the bath-house : so 
put out your horns, put out your spears ! 



1 Yama, King of Death. 

2 This song is very old. Some account of the insects referred to 
will be found in the preceding paper on dragon-flies! 



160 Japanese Miscellany 

(Frog-song — Tokyo.) 

Kaeru ga 
Naku kara kaero ! 
Since the frogs are crying, I shall take leave.^ 

(Snail-song — Province of Shinano.) 

Tsubu, tsubu, yama e yuke. 

— Orya iya da ! — ware yuke ! 

Kyonen no haru mo ittareba, 

Karasu to mosu kuroaori ga, 

Achi e tsutsuki tsun-mawashi, 

Kochi e tsutsuki tsun-mawashi ; — 

Ni-do to yukumai ano yama e ! 

— River-snail, river-snail, go to the mountain ! — I ? not 
I ! Go yourself if you want to ! When I went there in the 
spring of last year, the black bird that is called **crow" 
pecked me and turned me over on one side, and then pecked 
me again and turned me over on the other side. Not twice 
do I go to that mountain 1 

(Song about the cicada called Tsuku-tsuku-hoshi^ — Province 
of Chikuien.) 

Tsuku-tsuku-bo-San na, 
Nanyu naku ka ? — 

1 In this little song there is a play on the word kaeru, which, as 
pronounced, might mean either "to return" or "frog." Kaero is a 
future form of the verb. 

* See article " Semi " in my Shadowings, for some account of this 
curious insect. 



Songs of Japanese Children 161 

Oy a ga nai ka ? 
Ko ga nai ka ? 
— Oya mo gozaru, 
Ko mo gozaru ; 
Oitoshi tonogo wo 
Mottareba, 
Takajo ni torarete ; 
Kyo nanuka. 
Nanuka to omoeba — 
Shijiu-ku nichi ! 
Shijiu-ku nichi no 
Zeni-kane wo 
Doshite tsukotana 
Yokaro ka ? 
Takai kome kote, 
Fune ni tsumu ; 
Yasui kome kote, 
Fune ni tsumu. 
Fune wa, doko fune ? 
Osaka-bune. 
Osaka-bune koso 
Ne ga yokere. 

— Tsuku-tsuku-bo-San, wherefore do you cry ? Have 

you no parents ? — have you no children ? — Parents I have, 

children also I have ; but my good husband was snatched 

away from me by a falconer ; and to-day is the seventh day 

11 



162 Japanese Miscellany 

since his death. Nay — I thought it was the seventh day,— 
it is already the forty-ninth ! i What will be the best way 
to spend the money of the forty-ninth day ? — Buying dear 
rice, to freight a ship ; — buying cheap rice, to freight a ship. 

— As for the ship, where is it from ? — It is an Osaka ship. 

— Ah ! the cost of an Osaka ship is indeed very high ! 



Ill 

MISCELLANEOUS PLAY-SONGS 

Of play-songs, — songs to be sung with vari- 
ous out-door or in-door games, — the number is 
very great : my own collection includes upwards 
of two hundred pieces. Some take the form of 
stories ; others, of dialogues ; others belong to 
that class which the French call chanson enu- 
merative, or randonnee : a few are impossible to 
classify. And some of the most remarkable are 
so very queer, — so utterly unlike anything sung 
by Western children, — that any translation of 
them would remain, even with the aid of a 
multitude of notes, unintelligible to readers un- 
familiar with Japanese life. But I think that 
the following series of examples will sufficiently 

1 There is a reference here to the Buddhist services for the dead 
held on the seventh and forty-ninth days after interment. 



Songs of Japanese Children 16? 

serve to indicate the oddity and the variety of 
this category of child-songs. 

(Sung to a ctying child.) 

Naki-mushi ! ke-mushi ! 
Hasande sutero ! 

Cry-Insect ! — Hairy-Insect 1 [i. e., Caterpillar] — with a 
pair of chop-sticks we will throw you out of doors ! i 



(Sung to a child afraid of being away from home.) 

Inoru ! inoru ! 
Inagasaki ni oni ga iru ! 
Ato miriya ja ga iru ! 

Wants to go home ! — wants to go home ! On the 
going-home way 2 a demon is waiting; and if you look 
behind you will see a dragon ! 

(Dafice-song.) 

Renge no hana hiraita, 
Hiraita, hiraita ! 
Hiraita to omotara 
Yatokosa to tsubonda ! 



1 Alluding to the Japanese method of catching and removing a 
centipede, caterpillar, or other unpleasant visitor, with a pair of iron 
chop-sticks, or fire-tongs. 

2 There is a play upon words here not possible to render in r.nslis;-.. 



164 Japanese Miscellany 

The Lotos-flower has opened, has opened, has opened ! — 
Even as I thought that it had opened, — lo ! yatokosa ! — it 
has closed up again ! i 

(Play-song.) 

Umeboshi-San 
To iu hito wa, 
Ashi kara kao made 
Shiwa-yotte ! — 

Shiwa-yotte ! 
Are wa sui, 
Kore wa SLii, — 

Sui, sui, sui ! 

The person called Mr. Pickled-Plum is wrinkled all over 
from feet to face, — wrinkled all over ! Sour on that side ! 
sour on this side ! — sour, sour, sour I 

(Play-sottg.) 

Chinkan-chinkara ! 
Kajiya no ko ; 
Hadaka de tobidasu, 
Furoya no ko ^ . . . 



^ This Song of the Lotos is sung by a company of children who 
form a circle, or dancing-round, all holding hands, and facing inwards. 
As the song begins the circle is slowly widened ; but at the word 
yatokosa all run in together, — closing up the round with a simultaneous 
pull. 

' This appears to be a fragment of some " enumerative song," In 
which different trades and occupations are referred to. 



Songs of Japanese Children 16? 

Clink ! clank ! — the child of the blacksmith ! 
Jumping out naked — the child of the bath house I 



(Play-song.) 

** Kaji-don ! Kaji-don ! 

Hi hitotsu goshare ! " 
" Hi wa nai, nai ya ! 

Ano yama koete, 

Kono yama koete, 

Hi wa koko, koko ni aru ! " 

«* Sir Smith ! Sir Smith ! 
Please give us a little fire." 
" Fire I have none, none at all. 
Crossing over that mountain, 
Crossing over this mountain, 
Fire then you will find here." ^ 

(Dance-song.) 

Naka no, naka no 
Kobotoke wa. 
Naze mata kaganda ? 
Oya no hi ni 
Ebi tabete, 



^ This song is sung in accompaniment to an ingenious and difficult 
finger-play, — not altogether unlike our nursery-game of "Dance, 
Thumbkin, dance I" — but much more complicated; both hands being 
used. 



166 Japanese Miscellany 

Sore de mata 
Kaganda. 

— The little Buddha in the middle [of the dancing-circle}, 
the little Buddha in the middle, — why does he remain thus 
always bent? — On the anniversary of his parents' death, 
he ate shrimps : ^ therefore he remains thus always bent. 

(Another version.) 

Mawari, mawari no 
Kobotoke wa, 
Naze se ga hikui ? 
Oya no hi ni 
Toto kutte, 
Sore de se ga 
Hikui so na. 

— The little Buddha in the middle of the dancing-round, 
the little Buddha in the middle, — why is his stature thus 
low? — Having eaten fish upon the anniversary of his 
parents' death, therefrom his stature remains low. 

(Centipede-dance — Province of Kii.) 

Yurasu ya mukade ! 
Atama wa cha-usu ; 
O wa hiko-hiko yo ! 



1 On the anniversary of a parent's death, and during the Festival of 
the Dead, no good Buddhist should eat fish of any kind. 



Songs of Japanese Children 167 

The centipede moves — shivery-shaky ! The head is 
like a rice-mortar; — the tail goes hiko-hiko [wiggle- 
waggle] ! 1 



{Dance-song — Iiumo .) 

Jizo-San ! Jizo-San ! 

Omae no mizu-wo 

Dondo to kunde, 

Matsu-ba ni irete, 

Makkuri-kaeta ! ^ 

Jizo-San, Jizo-San ! plentifully drawing the water of 
your well, round and round we stir it with pine-leaves, until 
it spills over. 



(Hand-play song.) 

IcU ga saita, 
Ni ga saita, 
San ga saita, 
Shi ga saita. 
Go ga saita, 



^ This Centipede-Dance is performed by a number of children In 
line, — each grasping the girdle of the one before him ; while the leader 
holds in his hand some object shaped like a tea-mortar, to represent 
the centipede's head. The real tea-mortar would probably prove much 
too heavy for the sport. 

* This is usually sung by little girls. The singers at first stand 
face to face, in couples, holding hands as they sing. At the words 
" makkuri-kaeta," they turn about, without loosing the clasp, so as to 
come back to back. 



168 Japanese Miscellany 

Rohu ga saita, 
Shichi ga saita, 
Hachi ga saita, 
ATwmabachi ga saita, 
Tokage ga saita ! 

One stings ! [here one child lays his right hand upon the 
right hand of a playfellow] — two stings I [left hand upon 
the right] — three stings ! [left hand upon the left] — four 
stings 1 [undermost right hand brought up and laid on] 
— five stings ! [same manoeuvre by the other player] — six 
stings! — seven stings! — the bee i stings! [here the one 
whose hand is uppermost pinches the other's hand] — the 
WASP stings I [retaliation] — the lizard bites ! [a very hard 
pinch.] 

(Game-song.) 

" Koko wa doko no hoso-michi ja ? " 
**Tenjin-San no hoso-michi ja." 
" Chotto toshite kudanshanse ! " 
" Goyo no nai mono toshiniasenu." 
" Tenjin-San e gwan-kakete, 
Ofuda osame ni mairimasu." 
" Omae no uchi wa doko jaina ? " 
" Hakone no o-seki degozarimas." 
" Sonnara toyare, toyare ! 



1 Hachi, as pronounced, may mean either " eight" or " bee." 



Songs of Japanese Children 169 

Yuki wa yoi-yoi 
Kaeri wa kowai ! " 

« This narrow road, where does it go ? " — " This narrow 
road is the Road of the God Tenjin." — " I pray you, allow 
me to pass for a moment." — " No one must pass who has 
no business to pass." — ''Having made a vow to the God 
Tenjin, I want to pass to present an ofudaP i — " Where is 
your house?" — " My house is at the barrier 2 of Hakond." 
— "Pass, then! pass! Going, all will be well for you; 
but coming back you will have reason to be afraid." 



( Game-song — l^umo .) 

** Kona ko yoi ko da ! 

Doko no ko da ? " 

** Tonya Hachibei no otomusume." 

" Nanto yoi ko da ! 

Kiyo na ko da ! 

Kiyo ni sodatete 

Kita hodo ni 

Oya ni jikkwan, 

Ko ni go kwan, 

Semete O-Baba ni 

Shijiu-go kwan." 



» Ofuda, a holy text, either written on paper, or stamped upon wood. 

2 Hakone no seki. There used to be a military guard-house at 
Hakon§, where all travellers had to give an account of themselves 
before proceeding further. 



170 Japanese Miscellany 

" Shijiu-go kwan no o-kane wo 

Nani ni sum ? " 

*' Yasui kome kote, 

Fune ni tsumi : 

Fune wa shirokane, 

Ro wa kogane. 

Saasa ose-ose 

Miyako made." 

'' Miyako modori ni 

Nani morota ? '* 

" Ichi-ni kogai, 

Ni-ni kagami, 

San-ni sarasa no 

Obi morota." 

" Kukete kudasare, 

O-Baba San ! " 

" Kukyo — kukyo, 

To omoedomo, 

Obi ni michikashi, 

Tasuki ni nagashi." 

*' Yamada Yakushi no 

Kane no o ni." 

— "This child is a fine child! — whose child is she?" — 
" She is the youngest daughter of Hachibei, the wholesale 
merchant." —" what a fine child! O what a clever 
child I Because she has been so v/ell brought up, I shaU 



Songs of Japanese Children 171 

give to the parents ten kwan} and to the child five kivan, 
and to the grandmamma not less than forty-five kwan.'" — 
** With so much money as forty-five kwan, what will you 
do ?" — " Cheap rice I will buy, and load it on a boat. The 
boat is of silver ; the oar is of gold. . . Saasa ! [' Hearty 
now ! '] — row hard till we get to the Capital ! " — " What 
presents have you brought us on your return from the 
Capital ? " — " Firstly, a hair-pin of tortoise-shell. Secondly, 
a mirror. Thirdly, a girdle of sarasa " 2_*' Please sew it, 
grandmamma." — *' Though I thought to sew it, — though 
I thought to sew it, it is too short for a girdle ; it is too 
long for a /aswyfe/^-cord."— "Then I will ofYer it up as 
a bell-rope for the bell of [the temple of] Yakushi* at 
Yamada." 



(Gaim-song.^ 

" Kozo, kozo ! 

Ko hitori goshare ! " 

*' Dono ko ga hoshikera ? 

'' Ano ko ga hoshii wa." 

" Nani soete yashinau ? " 



1 One kwan was equal to a thousand copper-cash in old times. — 
The value of the present given to the grandmother reminds one of the 
fact that, in a Japanese family, the early training of the children is 
usually left to the grandparents, and especially to the grandmother. 

* Sarasa is a kind of calico, or chintz. 

3 Tasuki, a cord used to tie back the long sleeves of the Japanese 
robe, during working-hours. 

♦ Yakushi is the Japanese form of the name Bhaishagyaraga. (Bba- 
ishagyaraga literally signifies "The Medical King.") Yakushi, or 
Yakushi-Nyorai, is a very popular Buddhist divinity in Japan, —and 
is especially prayed to as a healing Buddha. 



172 Japanese Miscellany 

*' Tai soete yashinau." 

" Sore wa hone ga atte ikenu." 

" Sonnara tai ga hone nara, 

Ika soete yashinau." 

*' Sore wa mushi no dai-doku." 

" Sonnara Tono-San no nikai de 

Mosen shiite tenarai sashozo." 

*' Te ga yogorete ikenu." 

" Sonnara Tono-San no nikai de 

Mosen shiite sato mochi.'* 

** Sonnara yaruzo ! " 

** Acolyte, acolyte, please give me one child ! " — " Which 
child do you wish to have?" — ''That child I want to 
have." — "With what kind of food will you feed the 
child?"— «' With ^a/-fish I will feed the child." — " That 
will not do, — there are too many bones." — "Then, as 
there are too many bones in /a/-fish, I will feed the child 
with cuttle-fish." — "That would be very bad for the 
stomach of the child." — "Then, in the house of the 
lord, upstairs, I will spread a rug, and teach the child to 
write." — "That will not do: it would make the child's 
hands dirty." — "Then in the house of the lord, upstairs, 
I will spread a rug, and give sugar-cakes to the child." — 
" Very well, I will let you have the child." 

(New- Year Song. ) 

Senzo ya ! manzo ! 
O-fune ya gichiri ko, 



Songs of Japanese Children 173 

Gichiri, gichiri, kogeba, 
O-Ebisu ka ? Daikoku ka ? 
Kocha f uku no kami ! 

A thousand ships ! ten thousand ships ! Hear the 
August [Treasure-] Ship coming:, — gichiri, gichiri, gichiri, 
as they row ! Is it the God Ebisu ? is it the God Daikoku ? 
— Hither come the Gods of Good Fortune. 



(Old Tokyo Songs of the Bon-Festival.) 
I 

Bon no jiu-roku nichi 
A-sobasenu oya wa, 
Ki-Butsu, Kana-Butsu, 

Ishi-Botoke ! 

Ishi-Botoke ! 

The parents who will not let their chikli-ei- ^Ky *^n the 
sixteenth day of the [month of the] Bon-Festival, — th<?v are 
wooden Buddhas, — they are metal Buddhas, — they are 
Buddhas of stone, Buddhas of stone ! 

II 

Bon, Bon, Bon no 
Jiu-roku nichi, 
O-Emma Sama ye 
Maero to shitara, 
Zuzu no ga kirete, 



174 Japanese Miscellany 

Hanao ga kirete, 
Namu Shaka Nyorai ! 
Te de ogamu, 
Te de ogamu 1 

If we go to [visit the temple of] the August Lord Emma,i 
on the sixteenth day of the Bon, Bon, Bon, the string of 
the praying beads having been broken, and the thong of 
the sandal having been burst, Namu Shaka Nyorai !^ {we 
cTf], — and pray with hands joined, and pray with hands 
joined. 

Ill 

" O-Bon ga kita kara 
Kamiyute okure." 
** Shimada ga yo'i ka ? 
Karako ga yoi ka ? " 
*' Shimada mo iya yo ! 
Karako mo iya yo ! 
O-Edo de hayaru 
O-sage-gami ! " 

" Now that the Bon-festival has come, please to dress 
my hair." — " Will the Shimada-siyk^ suit you ? — or will 



1 Yama, the King of Death. His festival is held on the i6th day of 
the 7th month, after the three days' Festival of the Dead, — usually 
called the Bon. 

2 " Hail to the Tathagata, Sakyamuni! " — an invocation uttered, by 
the members of certain Buddhist sects, on all occasions of distress. — 
It is believed to be a bad omen for the thong of one's sandal to break. 

s The Sbimada-style is the fashion in which a bride's hair is dressed. 



Songs of Japanese Children 175 

the Karako i style suit you ? " — " No, I will not have my 
hair dressed in the Shimada-siyXt, nor will I have it dressed 
in the Karako siyl^. The honorable sage-gami^ style is 
now the fashion in the noble city of Yedo." 



IV 

Ichi no maru koete, 
Ni no maru koete, 
San no maru saki ye 
Hori-ido hotte, 
Hori wa, hori-ido : 
Tsurube wa kogane ; 
Kogane no saki ye 
Tombo ga tomatte ; 
Yare, sore tombo ! 
Sore, sore tombo ! 
Tobanakya hane wo 
Kirigirisu ! 
Kiriko ga t5ro, 
Kiriko ga toro ! 
Kiriko ga toro wa, 
Donata no saiku ? 



^ The Karakowage was an old-fashioned style of coiffure, — prob- 
ably as the name implies, of Chinese origin ; the literal meaning of the 
term being "Chinese-child-coiffure." 

2 The term sage-gami means loose-flowing hair. Anciently noble 
ladies wore their hair thus. 



176 Japanese Miscellany 

O-Akashi Sama no 
O-te zaiku, 
O-te zaiku ! 

Crossing the innermost line of fortification i, — cross- 
ing the second line of fortification, — at the end of the 
third line of fortification dug a well, a moat and a well. — 
The well-bucket is of gold. On the top of the golden 
bucket a dragon-fly alighted. Oh ! that dragon-fly ! that 
dragon-fly ! If it does not fly, its wings shall be cut off.^ 
— O the kirtko-hnierns \^—0 the kin ko-hniems — who 
made the ;^m^o-lanterns ? Our august Lord Akashi made 
them with his own august hand, with his own august 
hand. 



Nagai, nagai, 
Ryogoku-bashi nagai ! 
Nagai Ryogoku-bashi 
Suzumi ni detara, 
O-ko-sama-gata ga 
Yakata no fune de, 
Hikuya, kataruya, 
Yare omoshiroya, 



1 The lines of defence about a Japanese castle are counted from 
within outwards. 

2 There is here an untranslatable play of words, — the term kiri- 
girisu, which is the name of a cricket, being used for the verb kiri, to 
cut. 

* This is given to a kind of four-sided or polygonal lantern. 



Songs of Japanese Children 177 

Yare omoshiroya ! 
Bon-odori ! 



Long, long,— the Ryogoku bridge is long. Had you 
gone there to get cool, on the long Ryogoku bridge, oh ! 
to see the honorable children in the pleasure-boats, and to 
hear the musicians, and the reciters ! — how pleasant it was, 
how pleasant !— and the festival dance, too, — the Bon- 
Odori ! 



VI 

Yanagi no shita no 
Oshidori-Sama wa 
Asahi ni terarete, 
O-iro ga kuroi ; — 
O-iro ga kurokirya 
Ganguri-gasa o-sashi. 
Ganguri-gasa iya yo ! 
Ganguri-gasa iya yo ! 
O-Edo de hayaru 
Ja-no-me-gasa, 
Ja-no-me-gasa ! 

Under the willow-tree 

Sir Mandarin-duck 

Being shone upon by the morning sun, 

His honorable color is dark. 

If the honorable complexion be dark, 

12 



178 Japanese Miscellany 

Spread a ganguri-umhrelh.^ 

A ganguri-umhreWd. I will not have I 

A gangttri-umhrelh I will not have ! 

Now in the honorable city of Yedo, is fashionable 

The Serpent' s-Eye-umbrella,''^ 

The Serpent's-Eye-umbrella. 



VII 

Konata no yashiki wa 
Kirei na yashiki, — 
Oku no ma de samisen, 
Naka no ma de odori wo, 
Daidoko ma demo 
Fue taiko ! f ue taiko ! 

This residence of yours is a fine residence, — with a 
samisen playing in the best back-room, and dancing going 
on in the middle-room, and even in the kitchen a flute and 
drum, a flute and drum ! 

( Tokyo play-song.) 

. " Oyama no, 
Oyama no 



1 Ganguri-gasa. I do not know what kind of umbrella was thus 
called. 

2 A paper umbrella painted black, all but a band some four or five 
Inches from the top, so that when the umbrella is opened, this white 
ring with the black space which it encloses, resembles in form a ser- 
pent's eye. 



Songs of Japanese Children 179 

O-Kon San wa 

Doko ittaka ? " 

" Tonari e 

O-imo tabeni ikimashita." 

" O-okashii ! o-okashii ! " 

" 0-Kon San of Gyama — where has she gfone?" — 
"She went next door, to eat some potatoes." — "How 
very, very strange ! — how very, very strange ! " ^ 

( Tokyo play-song.) 

Muko no yama no 
Sumotori-bana wa 
Enyaraya to hikeba, 
O-te-te ga kireru, — 
O-te-te no kireta 
O-kusuri nai ka ? 
Aka no mo aru, 
Shiroi no mo aru. 
Onaji-ku nareba 
Akai no ni sho yo ! 

When [with a ay of] Enyaraya ! we pull the violets 2 of 
yonder mountam, our hands get torn. — Is there no medi- 



* This song belongs to a game of hide-and-seek, played by girls. 

2 Literally, the " wrestler's-flower," — so called because of a game 
played with violet-flowers. Two children each take a violet, twist the 
heads of their flowers together, and pull the stalks in opposite direc- 
tions until one of them breaks. The player whose violet breaks first is 



180 Japanese Miscellany 

cine for the torn hand? Red medicine there is, and also 
white. — If the two medicines are equally good, then I shall 
certainly take the red. 

{Dialogue Song — Province of I^umo.) 

" Muko no yama no 
Kawazu ga naku ga ! 
Nashite naku ka ? 
Samute naku ka ? 
Himoji te naku-ka ? 
Himojikya ta tsukure." 
*' Ta tsukuriya kitanai/' 
'' Kitanakya arae." 
" Arauya tsumetai." 
" Tsumetakya atare." 
" Atarya atsui." 
" Atsukya shizare." 
** Shizara nomi ga ku." 
" Nomi ga kuya korose." 
*' Korosha kawai ! " 
" Kawaikya daitene." 
" Daitene ry a nomi ga ku." 
" Nomi ga kiiya korose." . . . 
&c., &c. 



the loser. Perhaps the reader will be reminded of our " wishing-bone " 
sport ; but in the Japanese play the flowers are supposed to represent 
wrestlers. 



Songs of Japanese Children l8l 

" The frogs of yonder mountain cry. Why do they 
cry ? Is it for cold that they cry ? Is it for hunger that 
they cry? If you are hungry, till the rice-field." — " It is 
dirty work, to till the rice-field." — <* If it be dirty work, 
wash." — "It is cold, to wash."— '* If it be cold, warm 
yourselves by the fire." — "It is too hot by the fire." — 
"If it be too hot, go further away."— " If we go further 
away, the fleas will bite us." — " If the fleas bite you, kill 
them." —"It is too pitiful to kill the poor things." — " If 
you pity them so much, embrace them, and sleep with 
them."— "If we embrace the fleas and sleep with them, 
they will bite us." — "If the fleas bite you, kill them," 
&c.,&c. 

By far the strangest thing in this part of my 
collection is a kind of metaphysical dialogue, 
chanted by children as a play-song ! It probably 
survives from the period when the teaching of 
children was chiefly intrusted to the Buddhist 
priesthood, and when almost every Buddhist 
temple was also a school, or had some kind of 
a school attached to it. There is nothing very 
remarkable about the composition itself: it is 
only the choice of subject — an astonishing sub- 
ject for a play-song, — that makes the thing seem 
strange to a Western mind. 

This subject is the infinity of Jizo Bosatsu (the 
Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha) , whose smiling images 
may be seen by almost every roadside, and in 



182 Japanese Miscellany 

countless Buddhist cemeteries. Often at cross- 
roads, and still more often in graveyards, you will 
find, instead of a single statue of Jiz5, six images 
in a row, — each figure bearing a diflferent mys- 
tical emblem. These Six Jizo, or Roku-Jiio, 
symbolize the teaching that Jizo Bosatsu, self- 
multiplied, at once exercises his saving pity in all 
the Six Spheres of Sentient Existence, — that is 
to say throughout the entire Universe of Forms. 
But, according to the higher Buddhism, " there is 
no being besides Buddha, and no Buddha besides 
being." All the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas 
are veritably but One ; — all substance, all life, 
all mind is but One. And Jizo of the Six States 
of Existence is not only a multiple manifestation 
of the Absolute : he also is the Absolute. . . . 
To find these conceptions embodied in a child's 
play-song is somewhat startling; but there are 
many things quite as startling to be met with in 
the old popular literature of Buddhism : — 

{Province of Mutsu.) 

Hashi no shita ni Roku-Jizo 
Nezumi ni atama wo kajirarete, 

— Nezumi koso Jizo da ! 

— Nezumi Jizo dara, 



Songs of Japanese Children I83 

Nanishini neko ni torarebena ? 

— Neko koso Jizo yo ! 

— Neko wa Jizo dara, 
Nanishini inu ni torarebena ? 

— Inu koso Jizo yo ! 

— Inu wa Jizo dara, 
Nanishini okami ni torarebena ? 

— Okami koso Jizo yo ! 

— Okami Jizo dara, 
Nanishini hi ni makarebena ? 

— Hi koso Jizo yo ! 

— Hi wa Jizo dara, 
Nanishini mizu ni kesarebena ? 

— Mizu koso Jizo yo ! 

— Mizu wa Jizo dara, 
Nanishini hito ni nomarebena ? 

— Hito koso Jizo yo ! 

— Hito wa Jizo dara, 
Nanishini Jizo ogamubena ? 

— Hon no Jizo wa Roku-Jizo. 

— The heads of the Six Jizo under the bridge have been 
gnawed by some rat. — But that rat itself is really Jizo. — 
If the rat be Jizo, how comes it that the rat is caught by a 
cat? — The cat itself is really Jizo. — If the cat be Jizo, 
how does it happen that the cat is worried by a dog ? — 
Truly the dog itself is also Jizo. — If the dog be Jizo, how 
explain the fact that it is captured by a wolf? — The wolf 



184 Japanese Miscellany 

itself is certainly Jizo. — If the wolf be Jiz6, why should it 
be overcome by fire? — The fire indeed is also Jizo. — If 
the fire be Jizo, why should it be extinguished by water ? — 
The water also is really Jizo. — If the water be Jizo, how 
explain the fact that it is drunk by mankind? — Mankind 
is really Jizo. — If mankind be Jizo, why should mankind 
pray to Jizo ? — The true Jizo is the Jizo of the Six States 
of Existence (lit., ** the trmjiio is the Six-Jii5"), 



IV 

NARRATIVE-SONGS 

{Province ofCboshi.) 

Ora ga tonari no Semmatsu wa, 
Omi no ikusa ni tanomarete, 
Ichi-nen tatte mo mada konai, 
Ni-nen tatte mo mada konai, 
San-nen tattara kubi ga kita. 

As for my neighbor Semmatsu, 

Having been engaged for the war in Omi, 

Though one year passed, still he did not come back ; 

Though two years passed, still he did not come back ; 

When three years had passed, his head came back.* 

{Province of I^umo.) 

Muko no yama ni 

Sam ga sambiki tomatt^ ; 



* Cut off, we must suppose. 



Songs of Japanese Children 185 

Mae no saru wa mono shirazu ; 
Ato no saru mo mono shirazu ; 
Naka no ko-zaru yo mono shitte. 
Gozare tomodachi, hana-mi ni yuko ya ? 
Hana wa doko bana ? 
Jizo no mae no sakura-bana. 
Hito-eda oreba, patto chiru ; 
Futa-eda oreba, patto chiru ; 
Mi-eda ga saki ni hi ga kurete. 
Dochi no koya e yado toroka ? 
Higashi no koya e yado toroka ? 
Minami no koya e yado toroka ? 
Tonosan no koya e yado totte, 
Tatami wa mijikashi, yo wa nagashi. 
Akazuki okite sora mitara 
Gikko no bakko no kiisengo. 
Funedomo saraete ho wo kaketsu. 
Hokakebune no tsuri-mono wa, 
Shiro-ori, aka-ori, aka-ji no 
Majitta tsuba-katana. 

In yonder mountain three monkeys dwell. The first 
monkey knows nothing. The last monkey also knows 
nothing. But the midmost little monkey knows every- 
thing well. — Come, friends, let us go to see the flowers. 
— Flowers? where are the flowers.? — Before the statue 
of Jiz6 the cherry-flowers are blooming. As I break one 



186 Japanese Miscellany 

branch, the cherry-flowers fall scattering. As I break a 
second branch the cherry-flowers fall scattering. Before I 
can break a third, the darkness comes. — In what dye-house 
shall I find lodging.? Shall 1 take lodging in the eastern 
dye-house ? Shall I take lodging in the southern dye- 
house ? — Lodging in the dye-house of the Tono-Sama 
[Icyrd), the mats I find short, and the night long. — Awaking 
at dawn, if I see the sky ... .1, cleaning out the ships, 
hoisting the sails. The sails of this sailing-ship are of white 
cloth and red ; the rigging is of red silk cord from the 
variegated hilts of swords .2 



{Province of I^umo.) 

Yare haratatsu ! — tatsu naraba ; 
Suzuri to fude to o-te ni motte, 
Omou koto wo kaki-oite, 
Murasaki-ga e mi wo nageta. 
Shita kara zako ga tsutsuku yara, 
Ue kara karasu ga tsutsuku yara. 
Tsutsuita karasu wa doko yukita ? 
Mori-ki no shita e mugi maki ni. 
Nan-goku, nan-goku maite kita ? 
Ni-sen-goku maite kita. 



* Here is a line of which I could not obtain a translation, — gikko no 
bakko no kiisengo. Perhaps the text is corrupt. 

2 This is not quite literal ; but it is certainly the original meaning of 
the description. — There are a great many songs of the same kind. 
Might not the kind be described as ar imperfect form of randonnie, — 
a randonnee in the first stage of evolution ? 



Songs of Japanese Children 187 

Ni-sen-goku no no ni wa 
Tera no mae de ko wo unda. 
Juji no koromo e chi ga tsuite, 
Ame-tare-mizu de aratte, 
Koro no hi de abutte ; 
Koro no hi ga taraide, 
Abura-hi de abutte ; 
Abura-hi ga taraide, 
Kudo no hi de abutte; 
Kudo no hi ga taraide, 
Kotatsu no hi de abutte. 

What I you are angry ? Ah ! if you be angry, taking 
inkstone and writing-brush in your honorable hand, think 
of what you wish to write and to leave behind you ! i 
When you have cast your body into the Purple River 
[Murasakt-gawa] small fishes will nibble it from below; 
crows will pick it from above. — The crow that picked, 
where is it gone ? — It has gone under a forest-tree, to sow 
wheat. — How many koku,'^ how many kokn have been 
sown ? — Two thousand koku have been sown. — By reason 
of the sowing of two thousand koku, a child is born in 
front of the temple. — The upper robe of the chief priest 
having been sprinkled with blood, he washed it in rain- 
water, and dried it by the fire of a censer. The fire in the 
censer being insufficient, he dried it by fire of oil. The fire 
of oil being insufficient, he dried it by the fire of a cook- 



1 Alluding to the custom of writing a letter to explain one's motives* 
before suicide. 

2 One koku is equal to about 5.13 bushels.. 



188 Japanese Miscellany 

ing-range. The fire of the cooking-range being insufficient, 
he dried it by the fire of a kotatsu)- 

{Province of he.) 

Neko ga Kuwana e mairutote ; 
Kuwana no michi de hi ga kiete, 
Toboshitemo, toboshitemo, toboraide. 
Chaya no en eto koshikakete, 

— Mizu wo ippai okurenka ? 

— Mizu wo yaru no wa yasui kedo, 
Tsurube no soko ga nukemashita. 

— Yare, yare ! kitsui ane-san ja ! 
O-cha wo ippuku okurenka ? 

— O-cha wo yaru no wa yasui kedo, 
Chagama no soko ga nukemashita. 

— Yare, yare ! kitsui ane-san ja ! 
Tabako wo ippuku okurenka ? 

— Tabako yaru no wa yasui kedo, 
Kiseru no kubi ga nukemashita. 



» A kotatsu is a square structure ; the sides and top being formed by 
wooden bars ; and the lower part containing a metal brasier, or warming- 
pan, in which a charcoal fire is lighted. Over this structure heavy 
quilts are thrown ; and a number of persons can keep themselves warm 
by sitting round the kotatsu with their knees under the quilts. The size 
of the kotatsu varies from about one foot to two feet square. Diction- 
aries absurdly describe the thing as " a kind of hearth." It is not a 
hearth ; but in Western Japan it occupies a place in the home like that 
of the hearth with us, — for the family assemble about It of winter 
evenings. 



Songs of Japanese Children 189 

— Yare, yare! kitsui ane-san ja ! . . . 
f^i — fu — mi — yo — itsu — mu — nana — 
ya — kono — to ! 

A cat set out for Kuwana. On the road to Kuwana her 
light went out. Though she tried and tried to reUght it, 
she could not. Then, having seated herself on the veranda 
of a tea-house, she asked : — " One cup of water will you 
not kindly give me?" — " It would be very easy to give 
you water ; but the bottom of the well-bucket has been 
taken out." — " Oh ! oh ! how harshly speaks this Elder 
Sister ! i Then will you not kindly give me a cup of tea ? " 
— " To give you some tea were an easy matter ; but the 
bottom of the tea-kettle has been taken out." — " Oh ! oh ! 
how merciless this Elder Sister ! Then will you not let 
me have one pipeful of tobacco .?" — " To give you some 
tobacco were an easy matter; but the bowl of the pipe has 
fallen off " — " Oh ! oh ! what a merciless Elder Sister ! " 
_ One — two — three —four —five — six — seven — 
eight —nine — ten ! ^ 

Of course the cat, in the foregoing narration, 
is a goblin-cat, — a cat having power to assume 
divers shapes. She travels in human form ; but 
this disguise is penetrated by the eye of the tea- 
house servant, who answers her as goblins are 

1 " Elder Sister" is still the title of courtesy by which the maid-ser- 
vant of an inn is addressed ; but the form l^han, a contraction of Ane- 
san, is more frequently used. 

s The numbers here refer to a game played to the accompaniment ol 

the song. 



190 Japanese Miscellany 

answered. ... If any goblin or ghost ask you 
for a bucket or other vessel, it is better not to re- 
fuse directly ; but you must be careful to knock 
the bottom out of the vessel asked for before 
yielding it up, — otherwise the consequences 
might be fatal. 

This reminds me of a superficial criticism 
sometimes made in regard to those European 
fairy-tales which recount the wooing of beautiful 
maidens by frogs or birds, and the intermarriage 
of different species of animals. It has been said 
that the monstrous absurdity of such stories un- 
fits them for the perusal of children, and, further- 
more, deprives them of all artistic merit. But 
most of these fairy-tales can be traced back to 
Oriental sources ; and to the Oriental mind there 
is nothing absurd in the idea of marriage be- 
tween human and non-human beings, — since it 
is believed that many animals can assume human 
shapes at will. To Far-Eastern faith all life is 
One ; and the forms that enclose it but tempo- 
rary conditions. Without some knowledge of 
Far-Eastern beliefs,^ the real charm of the old 



1 The beliefs are older than Buddhism; but Buddhism 
gave them considerable recognition. One of the questions 



Songs of Japanese Children 191 

Japanese fairy-tales cannot be understood. In 
any event they should be read in translation only 
when illustrated by Japanese artists. The il- 
lustrations will explain much that the bare text 
leaves in mystery. 

In the next song we have the story of a 
serpent assuming the shape of a certain man's 
daughter. Stories of serpent- women and dragon- 
women abound in Japanese literature. Probably 
both this song and the preceding one were in- 
spired by the memory of some old romance or 
drama : — 

{Province of Shinano.) 

Muko no ozawa ni ja ga tatte, — 

Hachiman-Choja no oto-musume. 

Yoku mo tattari takundari, 

Te ni wa nihon no tama wo mochi, 

Ashi ni wa kogane no kutsu wo haki, 

A yobe, ko yobe, to iinagara, 

Yama kure no kure ittareba, 

Kusakari tonogo ni yukiatte, 

— Obi wo kudasare, tonogo-sama. 

formerly to be asked of any one desiring to enter the 
Buddhist Order, according to the Vinaya texts, was this: 
— " Are j;ou a human being? " 



192 Japanese Miscellany 

— Obi mo kasa mo yasui koto, 
Ore no nyobo ni naru-naraba : 
Asa wa okite kami-yute. 

— Hana no saku made nete machi yo ! 

From the swamp beyond there rose up a serpent, in the 
likeness of the youngest daughter of the wealthy Hachiman. 
Well did it assume that form, skilfully standing. Holding 
in its hands two gems, and wearing upon its feet shoes of 
gold, it traversed mountains and fields, crying out the 
while:— "Call there! — Call here!" Then did it meet 
a grass-cutter, and say to him : — "Fair husband, deign to 
give me a girdle I " — "To give you [he answered] both a 
girdle and a hat will be easily done, if you become my 
wife. Then every morning, early rising, I will arrange 
your hair." — Wait then [she said], — patiently wait until 
the season of the blooming of flowers." 



BATTLEDOOR-SONGS AND 
BALL-SONGS 

In the time of the New- Year holidays the streets 
are made beautiful by groups of young girls 
playing at battledoor- and -shuttlecock, or at vari- 
ous games of hand-ball. It were difficult to 
imagine anything more charming than some of 
these little maids in their long-sleeved and many- 



Songs of Japanese Children 19? 

colored holiday -costume : only the most radi- 
ant of moths or butterflies might serve for a 
comparison. Very skilful are the Tokyo artists 
in portraying the grace and the daintiness of 
them; and every year these artists delight us 
with new colored prints of bevies of ball -players 
— (showing the fashions of the season), — or 
pictures of some fairy -damsel with upturned 
smiling face and shining eyes, and flower-lips 
half-parted, as she watches, battledoor in hand, 
the feathery missile in its course. Yet the real- 
ity may often be much more lovely than the 
picture. And, oh! what wonderful battledoors 
are sometimes to be seen ! — cushioned at the 
back with silk mosaic-work, making the dream 
of a landscape, a garden, a princess of ancient 
days! 

Yet the charm is not visual only ; — these fair- 
ies, in their play, sing little songs of strange 
rhythm and melody, very sweet to hear, and (for 
the Western listener) impossible to remember. 

Many of these queer little songs are so con- 
structed that the first syllable of each successive 
line or phrase corresponds with the first syllable 
of a numeral noting the ordinal place of the 
13 



194 Japanese Miscellany 

line or phrase. Most commonly the Japanese 
numerals are used : — hitotsu, futatsu, mitsu, 
yotsu, itsutsu, mutsu, nanatsu, yatsu, koko- 
notsu, and to. But in various examples the 
Chinese numerals are used — ichi, ni, san, shi, 
go, roku, shichi, hachi, hii, jiti. And in sundry 
compositions the two sets of numerals are mixed 
together. With the utterance of each line or 
phrase the shuttlecock or the ball ought to be 
struck once. The term cho (" even number ") 
seems usually to signify ten strokes; — but this 
meaning is not always evident. 

( Tokj'o Battledoor-song.) 

Hit on kina, 
Futan kina, 
Miii yukina, 
Kotte yukina ; 
Itsu kite 
M//zukashi ; 
Nana y^kushi, 
Koko no ma de 
To yo! 

Come, one! come, two! — After seeing, go! — After 
entering, go ! — Wlienever I come to see you, your face is 



Songs of Japanese Children 19S 

gloomy. — Seven for Yakushi ! i — There you are ! —ten 
with the stroke of nine! 



{Kjyoto Baitledoor-song,) 

Hitori kina, 
Futan kina, 
MM yukita, 
ybtte yukina ; 
Itsu kite mitemo 
Nanako obi wo 
y^^kuruma ni shimete. 
Kokono yo de itcho yo ! 

Come, one ! Come, two ! — After seeing, departed ; — 
after entering, go! Whenever I come to see you, you 
put on your Namko 2-girdle, tying it in the mode called 
"Eight Wheels." With this ninth stroke, one cho is 
completed. 

{Kyoto Battledoor-song.) 

Hitomi, 
Futamt, 
M/yakashi, 
Yomigo, 
Itsuydi no 



1 Yakushi-Nyoral (Bhaishagj/araga) , the Healing Buddha. 

2 Nanako is the name given to a kind of heavy twilled silk with a 
wavy lustre. 



196 Japanese Miscellany 

M//sashi, 
Niifhjy:\ no 
y j/.s7/shi, — 
Kokofio ya I 
Tdl 

One eye-glance ! — two ^hnces I — the Aiipfust Lights 
[of the Gods] I — the Daujihter-in-Liiw ! — the Chequer- 
g:ame [sold at the shop] Itsuyiil — the dandy [-clerk] or 
the shop Nanaya ! — Nine there are I — And ten ! 

{Batth'door-song — Proviuce of Shinano.) 

Hi -vara Hikobe ; 
Nakane no O-Toyo ; 
Sando-me ni niakettf, 
Abekobe chinchikurin, 
Chinchikurin no chinchikurin ; 
Hi toko n'l fnti7gOy 
M/ watasu j'omego, 
Itsu kite w/temo,* 
NiViciko no obi wo 
Yd no ji ni shiniete, 
Kono ya wo tovu. 

There goes one, Hikob^ ! — 0-Toyo of Nakan^; — three 
times defeated ; — upside-down now, chincbikitrin ! — chin- 



^ The syllable mi of viitemo is here considered to be an equivalent 
for mu, the first syllable of mutsu, " six." 



Songs of Japanese Children 197 

chikurin ! and chinchikurin ! — one child and twins; — 
bride seen far away ; whenever I }^o to see her, she puts 
on her Nanako-ohi (taffeta j^irdle), tyin}( it in the form of 
the character Ya} — and so she passes before this house. 

Sometimes the names of ten celebrated temples, 
or the names of ten divinities, or even the names 
of the months, are used for the same enumerative 
purpose, — as in the following examples : — 

( Tokyo Ball-song.) ^ 

Ichi ni Ichibata O-Yakushi Sama yo ! 
Ni-niwa Nihon no Nikko-Sama yo ! 
San-ni Sanuki no Kompira-Sama yo ! 
Shi-ni wa Shinano no Zenkoji-Sama yo ! 
Itsutsu Enoshima Benten-Sama yo ! 
Roku-ni Rokkakudo no Kwannon-Sama yo ! 
Nanatsu Nana-ura no Tenjin-Sama yoj 
Yatsu Yawata no Hachiman-Sama yo ! 
Kokonotsu Koya no Kobo-Sama yo ! 
To de tokoro no Ujigami-Sama yo ! 
Kaketa gwan nara tokaneba naranu ! 

The first time for the Aui^ust Lord Yakushi of Ichibata; 
The second, for the Lord Deity of Nikko in Japan ; 



' The Hiragana character " ya " is here referred to. — This way of 
tyin^ the girdle is still in fashion, and Is still called the " Ya-no-jl " 
manner. 

' Variants of this composition seem to be known in almost every 
part of Japan. 



198 Japanese Miscellany 

The third, for the Lord Kompira of Sanuki ; 

The fourth, for the Lord Buddha of Zenkoji in Shinano; 

The fifth, for the deity Benten of Enoshima ; 

The sixth, for the deity Kwannon of the Rokkakudo; 

The seventh, for the August Lord Tenjin, of Nana-ura; 

The eighth, for the August Lord Hachiman, of Yawata; 

The ninth, for the Lord Kobodaishi of Koya; 

The tenth, for the tutelary Gods of this place. 

The vow that has been made must always be kept I 



{Kyoto Battledoor-song.) 

Shogwatsu, — 

Kadomatsu ; 
Nigwatsu, — 

Hatsu-uma ; 
Sangwatsu, — 

Sekku ; 
Shigwatsu, — 

O-Shaka ; 
Gogwatsu, — 

Nobori ; 
Rokugwatsu, — 

Tenno ; 
Shichigwatsu, — 

Tanabata ; 
Hachigwatsu, — 

Hassaku ; 



Songs of Japanese Children 199 

Kugwatsu, — 

Kiku-tsuki ; 
Jiugwatsu, — 

Ebisu-ko ; 
Shimotsuki ; 

Shiwasu ; 
Kokono yo de 

Itcho yo ! 

First Month, Gate-Pinetree;i— Second Month, First 
Day-of-the-Horse;2 — Third Month, Girls' Festival ;» — 
Fourth Month, the August Sakyamuni;* — Fifth Month, 
Flags; 6 Sixth Month, Festival of the tutelar God;» — 
Seventh Month, Festival of the Weaver ; "' — Eighth Month, 
Festival of the First Day; — Ninth Month, the Month of 
Chrysanthemums; — Tenth Month, Festival of Ebisu;^ — 
The Frost Month; — The Last Month; — Nine strokes 
given — now one cho is now completed. 



* The Kadomatsu, or "Gate-Pine," Is planted before the main en- 
trance of a house on the first day of the new year. 

2 This is the great festival of the Rice-God ; — the term Hatsu-uma, 
or " First Horse-Day," signifies only seventh day, each day of the old 
month being named after one of the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. 

3 Also called the Festival of Dolls. 

* The Birthday of the Buddha is celebrated on the eighth day of the 
fourth month. 

6 This is the Boys' Festival. Nobori are flags, bearing symbolic 
designs, and are hoisted in celebration of the birth of a son. In Tokyo 
paper or cotton figures of carp-fish are used in lieu of nobori. 

6 Tenno is the name usually given to the guardian-deity of a city ol 
district. 

' The Weaver is the Star Vega. 

* Patron-God of Labor. 



200 Japanese Miscellany 

{Ball-song — Province of Shinano,) 

Daikoku-Sama, to iu hito wa, — 
Ichi-ni, tawara wo f unmaete ; 
Ni-ni, nikkori warote ; 
San-ni, sakazuki itadaite ; 
Yotsu de, yo no naka yoi yo ni ; 
Itsutsu de, izumi no waku yo ni ; 
Mutsu, mubyo sokusai ni ; 
Nanatsu, nanigoto nai yo ni ; 
Yatsu de, yashiki wo tairagete ; 
Kokonotsu, ko-kura wo oshitatete ; 
To de, tokkuri osamatta. 

[Praying tol the person called Daikoku-Sama, — firstly, 
as he treads upon the rice-bales, — secondly, as he laughs 
with pleasant countenance, — thirdly, taking the s^^^-cup 
respectfully in hand, — fourthly, — \we beseech hirn] that all 
the world may prosper, — fifthly, that the springs may 
purely flow, — sixthly, that the people may be free from all 
sickness and calamity, — seventhly, that all evils may cease, 
— eighthly, that our house may be victorious \in war] , — 
ninthly, that treasure-houses maybe erected, — tenthly, that 
universal peace may continue to prevail. 

This last is a curious example of a prayer trans- 
formed into a ball-song. Excepting the first four 
lines the text is almost, word-for-word, the text 
of an old samurai-prayer, — the household prayer 



Songs of Japanese Children 201 

which every warrior repeated daily. . . . Some 
of the following, on the other hand, are little 
more than nonsense- verses : — 

{Battledoor-song — Province of Echt^en.) 

Hiya! 
Fu ya! 

O-KomaSan! 
Tabako no 
Kemuri wa, 
Johattsan ! 

One struck ! — two struck ! 0-Koma San ! Smoke oi 
tobacco — Johattsan. 1 

{Battledoor-song — Province of Shinano,) 

Ichigwatsu ; 
Nigwatsu ; 
Sangwatsu, 
Sakura ; 
Yanagi no 
Shita de, 



1 Johattsan, familiar abbreviation of Johachi San (" Mr. JohacW*). 
The song alludes to the popular drama entitled " O-Koma-Saiza." 
O-Koma, the heroine of this play, is a beautiful girl who comes to an 
unhappy end through the rascality of Johachi, a trusted servant in her 
father's house. Johachi appears on the stage, in various scenes ol 
the drama, squatting before a hibachi, and smoking furiously. 



202 Japanese Miscellany 

Kesho 
Shite; — 
To 
Yo! 

The first month ; the second month ; the third month, 
cherry-flowers ! Under the willow-tree, making my toilet 
— there goes ten 1 

{Battledoor-song — Province of SMnano,) 

Hiya! 
Hikobe ! 
Hagetaka, 
Jirobe ? 
Jirobe no 
Atama wa, 
Naze hageta ? 
Oya ga 
Jakende, 
Hi e kubeta. 

One for Hikob^ ! How did yeu get bald, Jirobe ? As 
for Jirobe's head — how did it become bald ? His parents, 
being cruel, put his head in the fire. 

{Kjfoto Ball-song.) 

Hi, fu, mi, yo, 
Yomo no keshiki wo 



Songs of Japanese Children 203 

Haru to nagamete ; — 

Ume ni uguisu 

'' H5-Ho-Hokekyo " to saezuru. 

Asu wa Gion no 

Niken chaya de, 

Koto ya samisen 

Hayashi tenten 

Temari-uta, 

** Uta no Nakayama " 
Chiyo go ni go-jiu de 
Chiyo roku — roku — roku, 
Chiyo shichi — shichi — shichi, 
Chiyo hachi— hachi — hachi, 
Chiyo ku ni ku-jiu de 
Chotto hyaku tsuita. 

One, two, three, four ! — in each of the four directions 
gazing,' everywhere the signs of spring are seen. On the 
plum-tree the nightingale sings Ho-Ho-Hokek)>d> To- 
morrow in the two tea-houses of Gion-street, with accom- 
paniment of koto and s^m/s^;/ — ting-ting ! — will be sung 
the hand-ball songs, and the song called " Uta no Nakajyamar 
. . . Thus making fifty and five chtyo.^ . . • C^/>, six — 
six — six ! Chiyo, seven — seven — seven ! Chiyo, eight— 



1 With regard to the cry of the uguisu. see the preceding paper on 
Buddhist nomenclature. 

2 Chiyo is here the same as cho, meaning the even number, or full 



ten. 



204 Japanese Miscellany 

eight — eight ! Chiyo, nine and ninety now 1 . . . Even so 
a hundred have been struck ! 



( Cttj; of Shtd^uoka . ) 

Uguisu ya ! uguisu ya ! 
Tama-tama miyako e noboru toki, 
Ume no ko-eda ni hirune shite, 
O-Chiyo ni nani-nani kisete yaru ? 
Uwagi wa kon-kon-kon-chirimen, 
Shitagi wa chin-chin-chirimen ; — 
Sore wo kisete yattareba 
Michi de korobu ka ? — te wo tsuku ka ? 
Tono-San ga totara, o-jigi wo seyo ; 
Omma ^ kitaraba, waki ni yore ; 
Te-narai kodomo wo kamo-nayo ; 
Kamoto soshi de butareruzo ! 
Mazu, mazu ikkwan okashimoshita ! 

— O Nightingale, Nightingale ! when some time you go 
to the capital, sleeping by day on a plum-tree bough, what 
will you give 0-Chiyo to wear ? — An upper dress of dark- 
blue, dark-blue, dark-blue crepe-silk; an under-dress of rare, 
rare, rare crepe-silk. So dressed, when I send her out, 
I shall warn her not to stumble, or to dirty her hands. " If 
a Lord passes on the road, [/ shall saj> to her,] make the 
honorable reverence. If an honorable horse approaches, 
keep well to one side of the road. Do not vex the children 



* Omma is a corruption of O-uma, " honorable horse. 



Songs of Japanese Children 20? 

on their way to the writing-school ; — if you vex them, you 
will certainly be beaten with copy-books." — Now, now I 
have lent you one kwan [ i. e., I have struck the ball one 
hundred times ! ] ^ 



{Promnce ofEcht{en,) 

Hitotsu, hiita mame, — 

Ko ni shita mame ; 
Futatsu, funda mame, — 

Tsubureta mame ; 
Mitsu, miso-mame, — 

Fukureta mame ; 
Yotsu, yotta mame, — 

Kirei na mame ; 
Itsutsu, itta mame, — 

Hara-kitta mame ; 
Mutsu, murota mame, — 

Tokushita mame ; 
Nanatsu, natta mame, — 

Saya-tsuki mame ; 
Yatsu, yatta mame, — 

Son-shita mame ; 
Kokonotsu, kota mame, — 

Zeni-dashita mame ; 



^ The ancient kwan was worth looo cash, — or mon. Its value ' 
therefore about the same as that of the dollar of loo cents. 



206 Japanese Miscellany 

To de totta mame, — 

Nushito-shita mame. 



One — for ground peas, — 

the peas made into flour ; 
Two, — for trampled peas,— 

the peas which were crushed; 
Three, — the peas made into w/so-sauce,— 

fermented peas ; 
Four, — the selected peas, — 

the beautiful peas ; 
Five, — for parched peas, — 

the belly-cut peas ; 
5/;c, — for peas given to us,— 

the peas which we gained ; 
Seven, — for growing peas, — 

the peas in the pod; 
Eight,- the peas given away, — 

the peas that are lost ; 
Nine, — the peas which we paid for,— 

the money-bought peas ; 
And Ten, — for the peas that we took, — 

the stolen peas ! 

The interest of the next selection — best of all 
the ball-songs — is of quite another kind. The 
scheme of the composition is not unlike that of 
our celebrated nursery-game, '* I love my love 
with an A " ; and the narration can be extended 
or varied indefinitely according to the imagina- 
tive wit of the players : — 



Songs of Japanese Children 207 

( T5hyd Hand-hall Song.) 
First Player:— 

O-Kan — Kan — Kan — 
Kaga-Sama yashiki ja, 
O-Kesa kometsuku, 
Konuka ga ochiru. 

— Nantote ochiru ? 
Sasa! shichiku-dake ! 
Sasa! hachiku-dakel 

— Muko no muko no 
Koshi-zukuri no 
Shirakabe-zukuri no 
Akai-noren no kakatta, 
O-Hime-Sama made 
O-watashi — 
Mdsu-su-su no su I 

Second Player: — 

Uketotta! uketotta! 

Uketotta! 

Daiji no o-mari wo uketotta ! 

Aa! uketotta! 

Cho ya, hana ya to 

O-sodatemoshite ; 

O-kaeshimoshite 



208 Japanese Miscellany 

Konya no ban kara : 
Kami mo irazumi, 
Suzuri mo irazumi ; 
Hari sambon, — 
Kinu-ito mi-suji ni, — 
Omma ga sambiki, — 
O-kago ga sancho. 
Norikae-hik'kae, 
Muko no muko no 
Koshi-zukuri no 
Kaki no noren no 

? Sama made 

O-watashi — 
Mdsu-sn-su no su! 

First Player: — 

In the residence of the Lord of Ka — Ka— Kaga, the 
maid 0-Kesa is cleaning rice, and the rice-bran falls. With 
what sound does it faH ? — With the sound oiSasa! shicbiku- 
dake! — sasa! bachiku-dake ! ^ . . . Now to the maiden- 
princess dwelling far, far away ,2 — in the house with the 



* These words are all names of bamboo. The sasa is a small variety 
of bamboo: the shichiku-daki is a black bamboo; and the bacbiku- 
dak'e is a purplish bamboo. But in this song the words are used only 
as onomatopes. The syllables sasa represent the creaking of the great 
wooden mallet, when lifted by the feet of the rice-pounder ; and the 
syllables shichiku-daki, hachikii-dake are intended to imitate the noise 
of the mallet falling, and the dull thud of the blow. 

2 Muko no muko (lit., " in front of in front " ) might better be ren- 
dered by our colloquial phrase, " at the back of beyond." 



Songs of Japanese Children 209 

lattice-work, — in the house with the white walls, — in the 
house with the red curtains hung up, — I do now most 
worshipfully this ball pas-s-s-ss ! 

[Here the ball is thrown to another girl, who 
catches it, and sings : ~ ] 

Second Player:— 

I have caught it ! I have caught it ! I have received the 
precious ball. Ah ! I have received it ! Like a butterfly, 
like a blossom, even so tenderly shall it be honorably cared 
for ; and by this night shall it worshipfully be returned. 
[To return it] neither paper nor inkstone will be needed, i 
— but three needles, and three lines of silken thread,^ — and 
three honorable horses, and three honorable palanquins. . . 
Changing horses, and again changing horses, [I myself 

shall carry this ball] to the Lady ^ ^^ho dwells far, 

far away from here, — in the building with the lattice-work, 
in the building with the persimmon-colored curtains hung 
up. To her I now do worshipfully [this ball] pas-s-s-ss ! 



VI 

LULLABIES 

A PARTICULAR psychological interest attaches to 
the literature of the lullaby, independently of 



^ Because the ball will not be returned merely by a niesseng:er bear- 
ing a letter of thanks. 

* Because it will be respectfully enclosed in a silken wrapper or bag. 

5 Here the real name of the girl, to whom the ball Is next to be 
thrown, may be mentioned. 
14 



210 Japanese Miscellany 

country or race. Being the natural utterance of 
mother-love, the lullaby may be said to express 
the most ancient form of tender experience ; and 
in almost every time and place the essential char- 
acter of this variety of folk-song has been little 
affected by social changes of any sort. Whether 
narrative or jingle, sense or nonsense, the verses 
usually contain some reference to those familiar 
things in which the child-mind discovers cause 
for wonder : horses or cows, trees or flowers, the 
moon and the stars, birds or butterflies, sights of 
the street or garden. Often the lullaby repre- 
sents the reiteration of one term of caress, alter- 
nated with promises of reward for docility, and 
hints of danger as a result of fretfulness. The 
promises commonly refer to food or toys; and 
the threatened penalties are not to be inflicted by 
the mother, but by some bogey or goblin having 
power to punish naughty children. To such 
general rules the Japanese lullabies do not offer 
any remarkable exceptions; but they abound in 
queer fancies, and have a distinctly Oriental 
quality. 

Perhaps the European reader will be startled by 
the apparition of the syllables nenne and nenneko 



Songs of Japanese Children 211 

at the beginning of these little songs ; for many 
of the French berceuses also begin with the syl- 
lables nine, having nearly the same sound. 
(The French word nene, — pronounced in some 
dialects nenna and nono, — is commonly used by 
mothers in southern France; dodo being the 
northern equivalent.^) But of course there is no 
real etymological relation between the French 
nene and the Japanese nenne. The Japanese 
phrase, nenneko, is compounded with a syllable 
of the verb neru, signifying to sleep ; a syllable 
of the word nenne or nennei, meaning baby ; and 
the word ko, meaning child. *' Sleep, baby- 
child ! " is the real meaning of the expression. 



{Province of he.) 

Nenne, nenne-to ! 
Neru-ko wa kawai ; 
Okite-naku-ko wa 
Tsura-nikui. 

Sleep, little one, sleep ! Sweet is the face of the sleeping 
child; — ugly the face of the wakeful child that cries ! 



* See, for examples, M. Tiersot's Histoire de la Chanson Populaire 
en France : pp. 136-137, et seq. 



212 Japanese Miscellany 

( Province of I^umo. ) 

Nenneko, nenneko, nenneko ya ! 
Netara o-kaka e tsurete ina ! 
Okitara gagama ga totte kama ! 

Sleep, sleep, O sleep, my child! If you sleep I will 
go home to fetch your mother ! If you stay awake the 
Gagama ^ will catch and bite you I 

{Kyoto Lullaby,) 

Netaka? nenandaka? 
Makura ni toeba, 
Makura mono iuta, 
Neta to iuta. 

Gone to sleep ? — not yet sleeping ? When I questioned 
the pillow, the pillow spoke words: "Already asleep," — 
so it said. 

{Province of Musashi.) 

Nenneko ! nenneko ! 
Nenneko yo ! 
Oraga akabo wa 
Itsu dekita ? 



I This is an Izumo name for some kind of Goblin. I wonder if the 
term is not a corruption of the ancient word Gogome, — a name g-iven 
to certain phantoms of the primitive Shinto cult, — the Ugly Women of 
the Underworld. 



Songs of Japanese Children 21 J 

San-gwatsu, sakura no 
Saku toki ni : 
Dori de okao ga 
Sakura-iro. 

Sleep, sleep, sleep, my child I When was my baby 
made ? In the third month, in the time of the blooming 
of cherry-flowers. Therefore the color of the honorable 
face of my child is the color of the cherry-blossom. 

{Province of Sanuki.) 

Nennen, nennen, 
Nennen yo ! — 
Nenneshita ko ni 
Haneita to hane to ; 
Nenne-sen ko ni 
Hane bakari. . . . 

Sleep, sleep, sleep ! — For the little one who goes to 
sleep, a battledoor and shuttlecock ! For the child who 
does not sleep, only a shuttlecock.! 



{Promnce of Shinano.) 

Nennen -y 6 ! 
Korokoro yo ! 
Nennen -Koyama^ no 



* Perhaps the name Nennen- Kqyama might be translated, " The 
Hills of the Land of Nod." The Kiji, a beautiful green pheasant, often 
betrays itself to the hunter by its cry ; — hence the proverb, Kiji mo 



214 Japanese Miscellany 

Kiji no ko wa, 
Nakuto o-taka ni 
Torareru yo ! 

Sleep ! happily sleep ! The young of the kiji in the Hill 
of Nennen — if it cries it is sure to be taken by the hawk. 

( Province of Iiumo. ) 

Nenneko, nenneko, nenneko ya ! 
Achira muitemo yama yama ; 
Kochira muitemo yama yama. 
Yama no naka ni nani ga am ? 
Shii ya donguri kaya no mi. 

Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep! I turn that way; but I 
see only mountains. I turn this way; but I see only 
mountains. In the midst of those mountains what can 
there be? There are sM'i-nuts and acorns and seeds of 
kajya? 

{Province of I^umo.) 

Nenneko se, nenneko se ! 
Nenne no omori wa doko e itta ? 
Yama wo koete sato, e itta. 



nakaiuba utari wa shimai : " If the Kiji did not cry, it would not be 
shot." 

1 The sbii-tree is a variety of live-oak. 

* The kaya is a kind of yew. 



Songs of Japanese Children 215 

Sato no miyage ni nani morota ? 
Denden-taiko ni furi-tsuzumi, 
Okiagarikoboshi ni inu-hariko. 

Sleep, little one, sleep ! Where is the sleep-nurse, the 
girl-nurse gone ? Over the hills to her own village-home. 
When she comes back, what presents will she bring you ? 
A round drum to beat and a hand-drum i to shake j an 
okiagarikoboshi,^ and a paper dog. 

{Province of he.) 

Nenne sanse yo ! 
Kyo wa ni-jiu-go nichi ; 
Asu wa kono ko no 
. Miya-mairi. 
Miya e mairaba 
Do iute ogamu ? 
Kono ko ichi-dai 
Mame na yo ni. 

Sleep, child I sleep ! T®-day is the twenty-fifth day. 
To-morrow morning this child will make his first visit to 
the [Shinto] parish-temple. When I go with him to the 
temple, what shall I pray for ? I will pray that through 
all his life this child may be healthy and strong. 



1 The round shallow drum is called a dendem-taiko. The tsu^umi 
is a hand-drum of a very peculiar shape. Of course the toy-drums 
here referred to are considerably smaller than the real instrument. 

2 The okiagarikoboshi is a little figure of a wrestler which is so 
weighted as to assume an erect posture, no matter how thrown down. 



216 Japanese Miscellany 

{Province of Musasbt.) 

Nenneko, nenneko, 
Nenneko yd ! 
Oraga akabo no 
Neta rusu ni, 
Azuki wo yonagete, 
Kome toide, 
Aka no mamma e 
Toto soete, 
Aka no ii-ko ni 
Kureru-zo ! 

Sleep, sleep, sleep, little one ! While my baby sleeps 1 
will wash some red beans and clean some rice ; — then add- 
ing some fish to the red rice, I will serve it up to this best 
of little babies. 

{Province of Ecbi^en.) 

Uchi no kono ko no 
Makura no moyo, 
Ume ni uguisu, 
Matsu ni tsuru : 
Ume ni naretemo, 
Sakura wa iyaya; — 
Onaji hana demo, 
Chiri yasui. 



Songs of Japanese Children 217 

The designs upon the pillow of this child of the house 
are nightingales and plum-trees, storks and pines. I am 
used to the plum-tree-design ; but I would not have the 
cherry-flower design. Though the cherry-tree be equal in 
beauty to the plum-tree, its blossoms too easily fall.i 



{Mat sue : Province ofl^umo.) 

Nenneko, nenneko nenneko ya ! 

Kono ko nashite naku-yara ? 

O-chichi ga taranuka ? — o-mama ga 

taranuka ? 
Ima ni ototsan no otono no o-kaeri ni 
Ame ya, o-kwashi ya, hii-hii ya, 
Gara-gara, nagiireba fuito tatsu 
Okiagarikoboshi ! — 
Nenneko, nenneko, nenneko ya ! 

Sleep, sleep, sleep, little one ! Why does the child con- 
tinue to cry ? Is the honorable milk deficient ? — is the 
honorable rice deficient? Presently when father returns 
from the great Lord's palace, ame will be given you, and 



1 Therefore the design is unlucky. Some local bit of folklore is sug- 
gested by this composition ; — usually the cherry-flower is thought to 
be a happy symbol. — In this connection I may observe that the lotos- 
flower design is held to be unlucky. It is never to be seen in patterns 
for children's clothing ; and even pictures of the flower are scarcely 
ever suspended in a room. The reason is that the lotos, being the 
symbolic flower of Buddhism, is sculptured upon tombstones, and is 
borne as an emblem in funeral processions. 



218 Japanese Miscellany 

also cake, and a bii-hii likewise, and a rattle as well, and an 
okiagarikohoshi that will stand up immediately after being 
thrown down. 

[Shid^uoka Citv.) 

Yoi-ko da ! 
San-ko da ! 
Mame na ko da ! 
Mame de sodateta 
O-ko ja mono ! 
Neruto nerimochi 
Kureteyaru ; 
Damaruto dango wo 
Kureteyaru ; 
Nakuto nagamochi 
Showaseru zo ; 
Okoruto okorimushi ni 
Kureteyaru. 

Good child, genteel child, — what a healthy child it is ! 
For it is a child that has been nourished with peas. — 
Kneaded rice-cakes I will give you if you sleep. Dumplings 
I will give you if you hush. If you cry I will make you 
carry a nagamochi [quilt-chest]. If you get angry I will 
give you to the Anger-Insect .^ 



1 The chief interest of this composition is the curiously alliterative 
structure of the phrases. There are several queer plays upon words, 
Mame, as pronounced, may mean either " peas " or " healthy." In the 



Songs of Japanese Children 219 

{Province of Suruga.) 

Bo ya wa iiko da ! 

Nenneshina ! 

Kono ko no kawaisa 

Kagiri nai, — 

Yama de no ki no kazu, 

Kay a no kazu, 

Ten e nobotte 

Hoshi no kazu, 

Numadzu e kudareba 

Senbon matsu, — 

Senbon-matsubara, 

Ko-matsubara, 

Matsuba no kazu yori 

Mada kawai ! 

Oh 1 how good a child this boy is ! S\e&^, /ny child ! — 
My love of this child is incalculable as the number of the 
trees in the mountain-forest, — as the number of the fruits 
of the kajfa, — as the number of the stars in the sky above, 
— as the thousands of the pines of Numadzu below, — as 
the myriad great pines of the pine-forest, —as the myriad 
little pines of the young pine-wood : more incalculable even 
than the leaves of those pine-trees, is my love of this little 
one ! 



same way " okori " might mean either " to be angry " or " ague." 
Okorimushi properly signifies the "ague-insect," and is the populai 
name of a large moth, believed to cause chills and fever. 



220 Japanese Miscellany 

{Lullahy sung to the child of a Daimj>o. — Province of 
I^umo.) ^ 

O-nenne, o-nenne, o-nenne ya ! 
Yoi ni wa tokara gyoshin nari. 
Asama wa tokara omezamete, 
Omezame no ohobi ni nani, nani ? 
O -chichi no debana wo agemashozo, 
O -chichi no debana ga o-iya nara, 
Niwatori-keawase o-me ni kakyo ; 
Niwatori-keawase o-iya nara, 
O-kwashi wa takusan o-agarika ! 

Augustly rest, augustly rest ! Soon this evening augustly 
sleep ! Early at daybreak, at the august awakening, what, 
what honorable gift shall be presented at the august awak- 
ening? Flower of honorable milk shall be presented. If 
the flower of honorable milk be augustly disliked, then the 
fighting of the cocks will be honorably displayed. If the 
fighting of the cocks be augustly disliked, then will not 
honorable cake be augustly accepted? 



{Tokyo.) 

Nennen yo ! 
Korokoro yo ! 
Nennen-Koyama no 
Usagi wa, 



» Obtained from dictation at Matsue, Izumo. The original interest 
of this piece lies in the curious and really untranslatable honorifics. 



Songs of Japanese Children 221 

Naze ni o-mimi ga 
O-nagai ne ? 
Okkasan no 
O-naka ni, 
Ita toki ni, 
Biwa no mi, 
Sasa no mi, 
Tabemashite ; — 
Sore de o-mimi ga 
O-nagai yo ! ^ 

Sleep, little one ! — pleasantly sleep ! - Why are the ears 
of the hare of the Hill of Nennen so honorably long ? 
When he was in his mother's honorable womb, she ate the 
fruits of the loquat, the seeds of the small bamboo : there- 
fore his honorable ears are thus honorably long ! 



{Promnce of Settsu.) 

Nenne ! Koro ichi ! — 
Temma no ichi yo ! 
Daikon soroete, 
Fiine ni tsumu. 
Fune ni tsundara 



* An Izumo version of this lullaby will be found in Glimpses of Un- 
familiar Japan, — p. 6oq. The Izumo version is more interesting. — 
There are several Tokyd versions. 



222 Japanese Miscellany 

Doko-made ikiyaru ? 
Kizu ya Namba no • 
Hashi no shita. 
Hashi no shita ni wa 
O-kame ga iyaru ; 
O-kame toritaya, 
Take hoshiya ! 
Take ga hoshikerya, 
Takeya e ikiyare ; 
Take wa nandemo 
Gozarimasu ! 

Sleep, child ! Fair-time is coming. Oh I the fair of 
Temma ! — The ends of the radishes having been evenly 
trimmed, the ship is loaded. Having been laden, where 
will the ship go ? — Under the Bridge of Kizu, and under the 
Bridge of Namba. — Under those bridges live many hon- 
orable tortoises. Honorable tortoises I want to catch I — 
I want a bamboo-pole. — If you wish for a bamboo-pole, 
go to the bamboo-shop. In that bamboo-shop all kinds of 
bamboos augustly exist. 

( Tokyo.) 

O-TsLiki Sama, ikutsu ? 
Jiu-san, nanatsu. 
Mada toshi waka ye ! 
Ano ko wo unde, 
Kono ko wo unde, 



Songs of Japanese Children 22J 

Dare ni dakasho ? 
O-Man ni dakasho. 
O-Man doko itta ? 
Abura-kae, cha-kae. 
Aburaya no mae de 
Subite koronde ; 
Abura issho koboshita. 
Sono abura doshita ? 
Taro-Don no inu to, 
Jiro-Don no inu to, 
Mina namete shimatta. 
Sono inu doshita ? 
Taiko ni hatte, 
Achi no h5 demo, 
Don-doko-don ! 
Kochi no ho demo, 
Don-doko-don ! 
Tataita-to-sa ! 

Lady Moon, how old are you ? — Thirteen, seven.— 
That is still young. — That child being born, this child be- 
ing born, to whom shall the child be given to carry ? — To 
O-Man it shall be given to carry. —Where is O-Man gone ? 
— She has gone to buy oil ; she has gone to buy tea. — 
Slipping and falling, in front of the oil-shop, one whole 
shd 1 of oil she spilled. — What was done with that oil ? — 



1 One sho is a little more than a quart and a half. 



224 Japanese Miscellany 

The dog of Master Taro, and the dog of Masier Jiro, licked 
it all up, — What was done with those dogs ? — Their skins 
were stretched and made into drums. There you can hear 
[the drum] even now, — don-doko-don! Here you can hear 
[the drum] even now, — don-doko-don! So they beat the 
drums 1 

{Province of Gifu.) 

Nenne ya ! korokoro ya ! 
Nenne no umareta 
Sono hi ni wa, 
Akai o-mamma ni 
Toto soete, 

Toto-sama no o-hashi de 
Agemashoka ? 
Toto-sama no o-hashi wa 
Toto kusai. 

Haha-sama no o-hashi de 
Agemash5ka ? 
Haha-sama no o-hashi wa 
Chichi kusai. 
Ane-sama no o-hashi de 
Agemasho. 
Nennen! korokoro 
Nenne-sho ! 

Sleep, little one ! happily sleep ! On your next birth- 
day 1 will give you red rice cooked with fish. Shall I then 



Songs of Japanese Children 225 

feed you with the honorable chopsticks of your father?-— 
The honorable chopsticks of father smell of fish. — Shall I 
feed you with the honorable chopsticks of your mother ? — 
Mother's honorable chopsticks smell of milk. — Then I 
shall feed you with the honorable chopsticks of your elder 
sister. — Sleep ! pleasantly go to sleep 1 

(Province of Settsu.) 

Nenneko, sanneko, sakaya no ko ! 
Sakaya wo iyanara yome ni yaro. 
Yome no dogu wa, nani-nani zo ? 
Tansu, nagamochi, hitsu, todana ; 
Ryukyu-zutsumi ga rokka aru ; 
Furoshiki-zutsumi wa kazu shirezu . 
Sorehodo koshirae yaru-kara-nya, 
Issho sararete modoruna yo ! 
— Sorya mata okkasan doyoku na ! 
Sengoku tsundaru fune saemo, 
Kaze ga kawareba modoru mono ! 

Sleep, sleep, my child, — child of the sake-AtzXtr \ If 
you do not like this sake-\\onst, I will send you away as a 
bride. What are the bridal-gifts that will be given ? A 
tansu (chest of drawers), a nagamochi (quilt-chest), one 
hitsu (clothes-chest), one todana (cupboard). Of Ryukyu ^ 
goods the packages are six ; — as for the presents wrapped 



^ Rykuyu is the Japanese name of the Loochoo Islands. Various 
textile and other fabrics, made in the Loochoo islands, are greatly 
prized in Japan. 

15 



226 Japanese Miscellany 

in furoshiki} their number cannot be told. So much hav- 
ing been done for you, when you are given as a bride, 
remember that if you be divorced, you must never in your 
life come back to this house ! — Ah, mother ! that is too 
cruel of you! Even the ship that is freighted with a 
thousand koku of rice returns to port if the fair wind 
changes. 

( Tokyo Lullaby.) 

Senjo zashiki no 
Karakami sodachi ! 
Botchama mo yoi ko ni 
Naru toki wa, 
Jimen wo fuyashite, 
Kura tatete, 
Kura no tonari ni 
Matsu uete, 
Matsu no tonari ni 
Take uete, 
Take no tonari ni 
Ume uete, 
Ume no ko-eda ni 
Suzu sagete, — 
Sono suzu chara-chara 
Naru toki wa, 



^ Small presents are usually wrapped 'n a square piece of cotton or 
silk before being sent ; and this wrapper, much resembling a large 
handkerchief, is called a.furoshiki. 



Songs of Japanese Children 227 

Botchama mo sazo-sazo 
Ureshikaro ! 

[Big and beautiful] as the sliding-screens of a thou- 
sand-mat room, — so Sir Baby-boy is growing ! When he 
becomes a good boy Hkewise, then I will make larger the 
grounds about our dwelling, and there build for him a 
treasure-house. Next to the treasure-house I will plant 
pine-trees. Next to the pine-trees I will plant bamboos. 
Next to the bamboos I will plant plum-trees. To the little 
branches of those plum-trees shall be hung little bells. 
When those little bells sound chara-chara — O Sir Baby- 
boy, how happy you will be! 

{City of Hakata.) 

Kinkan, mikan, nambo tabeta ? 
O-tera no nikai de mitsu tabeta. 
Sono o-tera wa dare ga tateta ? 
Hachiman-Choja no oto-musume. 
Oto ga yome'-iri suru toki nya 
Nangai-teramachi shara-shara to, 
Mijikai-teramachi shara-shara to. 
Shara-shara setta no o ga kireta : 

— Anesan, tatete kurenkana } 

— Tatete yaro kota yarokendo 
Hari mo nakareba, ito mo nai. 

— Hari wa hariya de kote-yaru, 
Ito wa itoya de kote-yaru. 



228 Japanese Miscellany 

— Hari wa hariya no kusare-bari, 
Ito wa itoya no kusare-ito ! 

— Anesan, setta ni chi ga tsuita ! 

— Sore wa chi ja nai — beni ja mono ! 
Osaka beni koso iro yokere ; 

Iro no yoi hodo ne ga takai. 

— Citrons, oranges, — how many did you eat ? 

— Upstairs in tlie honorable temple I ate three. 

— As for that honorable temple, — by whom was it 

built ? 
By the youngest daughter of the wealthy Hachiman. 
On the day when that youngest daughter went out to be 

married, 
Down the long Street-of-Temples she walked — 5/;am- 

shara, 
Down the short Street-of-Temples she walked— shara- 

shara : 
Then was broken a thong of the sandals i that sounded 

shara-shara. 
" Elder sister, will you not kindly mend it ?" 
" The thong I would mend for you ; 
But I have neither a needle nor thread." 
" A needle from the needle-shop I will buy for you ; 
Thread from the threadshop I will buy for you." 
" Ah, this needle of the needle-shop is a rotten needle I 
This thread of the thread-shop is rotten thread." 
" Elder Sister ! there is blood upon my sandals I " 



1 The setta is a light, but very strong: sandal, of which the leather 
sole is strengthened with plates of thin metal. 



Songs of Japanese Children 229 

" That is not blood, it is only heni { rouge) .^ 
The rouge of Osaka has indeed a fine color : 
Very fine is the color, — therefore the price is dear." 

• *•••• 

And now, by way of conclusion, let me state 
that in preparing this rather lengthy paper I could 
only hope to furnish the reader with a new 
experience, — an experience somewhat like that 
of passing, for the first time, through Japanese 
streets. 

The first general impression of a Japanese 
street must be, for most people, even more 
vague than strange. Unless you happen to 
have senses of superlative delicacy, — unless you 
possess a visual faculty like that of Pierre Loti, 
for example, — you can remember very little, 
and understand almost nothing, of what you 
looked at while passing through that street. 
Nevertheless you will find yourself surprised and 
pleased ; — you will feel, without knowing why, 
the sensation of the elfish and the odd, — the 
charm of the unexpected. 

Well, in all the child-songs which I have quoted, 
perhaps less than half-a-dozen fairly arrested your 
attention ; and of the rest you probably remem- 



Beni is used chiefly to color the lips. 



230 Japanese Miscellany 

ber scarcely anything. But if you have read 
through the series, even hastily and superficially, 
you should have obtained a general impression, 
or vague sensation, not unlike the sensation that 
follows upon the first vision of Japanese streets : 
— dim surmise of another and inscrutable human- 
ity, — another race-soul, strangely alluring, yet 
forever alien to your own. 



Studies Here and There 



On a Bridge 



On a Bridge 



M 



Y old kurumaya, Heishichi, was taking me 
to a famous temple in the neighborhood 
of Kumamoto. 
We came to a humped and venerable bridge 
over the Shirakawa ; and 1 told Heishichi to halt 
on the bridge, so that I could enjoy the view for 
a moment. Under the summer sky, and steeped 
in a flood of sunshine electrically white, the colors 
of the land seemed almost unreally beautiful. 
Below us the shallow river laughed and gurgled 
over its bed of grey stones, overshadowed by ver- 
dure of a hundred tints. Before us the reddish- 
white road alternately vanished and re-appeared 
as it wound away, through grove or hamlet, 
toward the high blue ring of peaks encircling the 
vast Plain of Higo. Behind us lay Kumamoto, 
— a far bluish confusion of myriad roofs ; — 
only the fine grey lines of its castle showing 
sharp against the green of further wooded bills. 
. . , Seen from within, Kumamoto is a shabby 
235 



2?6 Japanese Miscellany 

place ; but seen as I beheld it that summer day, 
it is a fairy-city, built out of mist and dreams. . . . 

" Twenty-two years ago," said Heishichi, wip- 
ing his forehead — "no, twenty-three years ago, 
— I stood here, and saw the city burn." 

" At night ? " I queried. 

"No," said the old man, "it was in the after- 
noon — a wet day. . . . They were fighting ; and 
the city was on fire." 

" Who were fighting ? " 

" The soldiers in the castle were fighting with 
the Satsuma men. We dug holes in the ground 
and sat in them, to escape the balls. The Sat- 
suma men had cannons on the hill; and the 
soldiers in the castle were shooting at them over 
our heads. The whole city was burned." 

" But how did you happen to be here ? " 

" I ran away. I ran as far as this bridge, — 
all by myself. I thought that I could get to my 
brother's farm — about seven miles from here. 
But they stopped me." 

" Who stopped you ? " 

" Satsuma men, — I don't know who they were. 
As I got to the bridge I saw three peasants — I 
thought they were peasants — leaning over the 



On a Bridge 237 

railing: men wearing big straw hats and straw 
rain -cloaks and straw sandals. I spoke to them 
politely ; and one of them turned his head round, 
and said to me, ' You stay here ! ' That was all 
he said : the others did not say anything. Then 
I saw that they were not peasants ; and I was 
afraid." 

" How did you know that they were not 
peasants ? " 

"They had long swords hidden under their 
rain -cloaks, — very long swords. They were 
very tall men. They leaned over the bridge, 
looking down into the river. I stood beside 
them,— just there, by the third post to the left, 
and did as they did. I knew that they would 
kill me if I moved from there. None of them 
spoke. And we four stood leaning over the 
railing for a long time." 

" How long .? " 

** I do not know exactly — it must have been 
a long time. I saw the city burning. All that 
while none of the men spoke to me or looked 
at me : they kept their eyes upon the water. 
Then I heard a horse ; and I saw a cavalry officer 
coming at a trot, — looking all about him as he 
came. . . ." 



2?8 Japanese Miscellany 

" From the city ? " 

" Yes, — along that road behind you. . . . The 
three men watched him from under their big 
straw hats ; but they did not turn their heads ; — 
they pretended to be looking down into the river. 
But, the moment that the horse got on the bridge, 
the three men turned and leaped ; — and one 
caught the horse's bridle ; and another gripped the 
officer's arm ; and the third cut of! his head — all 
in a moment. . . ." 

'' The officer's head ? " 

*' Yes — he did not even have time to shout 
before his head was oflf. . . . I never saw any- 
thing done so quickly. Not one of the three 
men uttered a word." 

" And then ? " 

'' Then they pitched the body over the railing 
into the river ; and one of them struck the horse, 
— hard ; and the horse ran away. ..." 

*' Back to the town ? " 

** No — the horse was driven straight out over 
the bridge, into the country. . . . The head was 
not thrown into the river : one of the Satsuma 
men kept it — under his straw cloak. . . . Then 
all of us leaned over the railing, as before,— 
lookmg down. My knees were shaking. The 



On a Bridge 239 

three samurai did not speak a single word. I 
could not even hear them breathing. I was 
afraid to look at their faces ; — I kept looking 
down into the river. . . . After a little while I 
heard another horse, — and my heart jumped so 
that I felt sick ; — and I looked up, and saw a 
cavalry -soldier coming along the road, riding very 
fast. No one stirred till he was on the bridge : 
then — in one second — his head was off! The 
body was thrown into the river, and the horse 
driven away — exactly as before. Three men 
were killed like that. Then the samurai left the 
bridge." 

** Did you go with them ? " 

" No : they left immediately after having 
killed the third man, — taking the heads with 
them; — and they paid no attention to me. 1 
stayed on the bridge, afraid to move, until they 
were very far away. Then I ran back to the 
burning town ; — I ran quick, quick ! There I 
was told that the Satsuma troops were retreating. 
Soon afterwards, the army came from Tokyo; 
and I was given some work : I carried straw san- 
dals for the soldiers.'* 

** Who were the men that you saw killed on 
the bridge ? " 



240 Japanese Miscellany 

" I don't know." 

" Did you never try to find out ? " 

** No," said Heishichi, again mopping his fore- 
head : " I said nothing about the matter until many 
years after the war." 

** But why ? " I persisted. 

Heishichi gave me one astonished look, smiled 
in a pitying way, and answered, — 

" Because it would have been wrong ; — it 
would have been ungrateful.'* 

I felt properly rebuked. 

And we resumed our journey. 



The Case of 0-Dai 



" Honor thy father and thy mother." — Deut. v. i6. 
" Hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the 
law of thy mother." — Prov-rbs i. 8. 



The Case of 0-Dai 



I 



0-DAI pushed aside the lamplet and the 
incense-cup and the water vessel on the 
Buddha-shelf, and opened the little shrine 
before which they had been placed. Within 
were the ihai, the mortuary tablets of her people, 
— five in all; and a gilded figure of the Bod- 
hisattva Kwannon stood smiling behind them. 
The ihai of the grandparents occupied the left 
side ; those of the parents the right ; and between 
them was a smaller tablet, bearing the kaimyo 
of a child-brother with whom she used to play 
and quarrel, to laugh and cry, in other and hap- 
pier years. Also the shrine contained a make- 
mono, or scroll, inscribed with the spirit-names 
of many ancestors. Before that shrine, from 
her infancy, O-Dai had been wont to pray. 
243 



244 Japanese Miscellany 

The tablets and the scroll signified more to 
her faith in former time — very much more — 
than remembrance of a father's affection and a 
mother's caress; — more than any remembrance 
of the ever-loving, ever-patient, ever-smiling 
elders who had fostered her babyhood, carried 
her pickaback to every temple -festival, invented 
her pleasures, consoled her small sorrows, and 
soothed her fretfulness with song; — more than 
the memory of the laughter and the tears, the 
cooing and the calling and the running of the 
dear and mischievous little brother ; — more than 
all the traditions of the ancestors. 

For those objects signified the actual viewless 
presence of the lost, — the haunting of invisible 
sympathy and tenderness, — the gladness and 
the grief of the dead in the joy and the sorrow 
of the living. When, in other time, at evening 
dusk, she was wont to kindle the lamplet before 
them, how often had she seen the tiny flame 
astir with a motion not its own! 

Yet the ihai is even more than a token to 
pious fancy. Strange possibilities of transmuta- 
tion, transubstantiation, belong to it. It serves 
as temporary body for the spirit between death 



The Case of 0-Dai 24? 

and birth: each fibre of its incense-penetrated 
wood lives with a viewless life -potential. The 
will of the ghost may quicken it. Sometimes, 
through power of love, it changes to flesh and 
blood. By help of the ihai the buried mother 
returns to suckle her babe in the dark. By help 
of the ihai, the maid consumed upon the funeral 
pyre may return to wed her betrothed, — even 
to bless him with a son. By power of the ihai, 
the dead servant may come back from the dust 
of his rest to save his lord from ruin. Then, 
after love or loyalty has wrought its will, the 
personality vanishes ; — the body again becomes, 
to outward seeming, only a tablet. 

All this O-Dai ought to have known and re- 
membered. Maybe she did; for she wept as 
she took the tablets and the scroll out of the 
shrine, and dropped them from a window into 
the river below. She did not dare to look after 
them, as the current whirled them away. 

II 

O-Dai had done this by order of two English 
missionary-women who, by various acts of seem- 



246 Japanese Miscellany 

ing kindness, had persuaded her to become a 
Christian. (Converts are always commanded 
to bury or to cast away their ancestral tablets.) 
These missionary-women — the first ever seen 
in the province — had promised O-Dai, their 
only convert, an allowance of ihxttyen a month, 
as assistant, — because she could read and write. 
By the toil of her hands she had never been 
able to earn more than two yen a month; and 
out of that sum she had to pay a rent of twenty - 
five sen for the use of the upper floor of a little 
house, belonging to a dealer in second-hand 
goods. Thither, after the death of her parents, 
she had taken her loom, and the ancestral tablets. 
She had been obliged to work very hard indeed 
in order to live. But with three yen a month 
she could live very well; and the missionary- 
women had a room for her. She did not think 
that the people would mind her change of 
religion. 

As a matter of fact they did not much care. 
They did not know anything about Christianity, 
and did not want to know: they only laughed 
at the girl for being so foolish as to follow the 
ways of the foreign women. They regarded 
her as a dupe, and mocked her without malice. 



The Case of 0-Dai 247 

And they continued to laugh at her, good- 
humoredly enough, until the day when she was 
seen to throw the tablets into the river. Then 
they stopped laughing. They judged the act 
in itself, without discussing its motives. Their 
judgment was instantaneous, unanimous, and 
voiceless. They said no word of reproach to 
O-Dai. They merely ignored her existence. 

The moral resentment of a Japanese com- 
munity is not always a hot resentment, — not 
the kind that quickly burns itself out. It may 
be cold. In the case of O-Dai it was cold and 
silent and heavy like a thickening of ice. No 
one uttered it. It was altogether spontaneous, 
instinctive. But the universal feeling might 
have been thus translated into speech: — 

" Human society, in this most eastern East, 
has been held together from immemorial time 
by virtue of that cult which exacts the gratitude 
of the present to the past, the reverence of the 
living for the dead, the affection of the descend- 
ant for the ancestor. Far beyond the visible 
world extends the duty of the child to the 
parent, of the servant to the master, of the 



248 Japanese Miscellany 

subject to the sovereign. Therefore do the dead 
preside in the family council, in the communal 
assembly, in the high seats of judgment, in the 
governing of cities, in the ruling of the land. 

** Against the Virtue Supreme of Filial Piety, — 
against the religion of the Ancestors, — against 
all faith and gratitude and reverence and duty, — 
against the total moral experience of her race, — 
O-Dai has sinned the sin that cannot be forgiven. 
Therefore shall the people account her a creature 
impure, — less deserving of fellowship than the 
Eta, — less worthy of kindness than the dog in 
the street or the cat upon the roof; since even 
these, according to their feebler light, observe the 
common law of duty and affection. 

" O-Dai has refused to her dead the word of 
thankfulness, the whisper of love, the reverence 
of a daughter. Therefore, now and forever, the 
living shall refuse to her the word of greeting, 
the common salutation, the kindly answer. 

*' O-Dai has mocked the memory of the father 
who begot her, the memory of the mother whose 
breasts she sucked, the memory of the elders who 
cherished her childhood, the memory of the little 
one who called her Sister. She has mocked at 



The Case of 0-Dai 249 

love: therefore all love shall be denied her, all 
offices of aflFection. 

'*To the spirit of the father who begot her, 
to the spirit of the mother who bore her, O-Dai 
has refused the shadow of a roof, and the vapor 
of food, and the offering of water. Even so to 
her shall be denied the shelter of a roof, and the 
gift of food, and the cup of refreshment. 

" And even as she cast out the dead, the living 
shall cast her out. As a carcass shall she be in 
the way, — as the small carrion that none will 
turn to look upon, that none will bury, that none 
will pity, that none will speak for in prayer to 
the Gods and the Buddhas. As a Gaki^ she 
shall be, — as a Shojihi-Gaki, — seeking suste- 
nance in refuse-heaps. Alive into hell shall she 
enter; — yet shall her hell remain the single hell, 
the solitary hell, the hell Kodoku, that spheres 
the spirit accurst in solitude of fire. . . ." 

Ill 

Unexpectedly the missionary-women informed 
O-Dai that she would have to take care of 
herself. Perhaps she had done her best; but 

1 Prgta. 



2^0 Japanese Miscellany 

she certainly had not been to them of any use 
whatever, and they required a capable assistant. 
Moreover they were going away for some time, 
and could not take her with them. Surely she 
could not have been so foolish as to think that 
they were going to give her three yen per month 
merely for being a Christian ! . . . 

O-Dai cried; and they advised her to be 
brave, and to walk in the paths of virtue. She 
said that she could not find employment: they 
told her that no industrious and honest person 
need ever want for work in this busy world. 
Then, in desperate terror, she told them truths 
which they could not understand, and energeti- 
cally refused to believe. She spoke of a danger 
imminent; and they answered her with all the 
harshness of which they were capable, — believ- 
ing that she had confessed herself utterly de- 
praved. In this they were wrong. There was 
no atom of vice in the girl: an amiable weak- 
ness and a childish trustfulness were the worst 
of her faults. Really she needed help, — needed 
it quickly, — needed it terribly. But they could 
understand only that she wanted money; and 
that she had threatened to commit sin if she 
did not get it. They owed her nothing, as she 



The Case of 0-Dai 2?1 

had always been paid in advance ; and they imag- 
ined excellent reasons for denying her further aid 
of any sort. 

So they put her into the street. Already she 
had sold her loom. She had nothing more to 
sell except the single robe upon her back, and 
a few pair of useless tahi, or cleft stockings, 
which the missionary-women had obliged her 
to buy, because they thought that it was im- 
modest for a young girl to be seen with naked 
feet. (They had also obliged her to twist her 
hair into a hideous back-knot, because the Jap- 
anese style of wearing the hair seemed to them 
ungodly.) 

What becomes of the Japanese girl publicly 
convicted of oflfending against filial piety } What 
becomes of the English girl publicly convicted 
of unchastity.? . . . 

Of course, had she been strong, O-Dai might 
have filled her sleeves with stones, and thrown 
herself into the river, — which would have been 
an excellent thing io do under the circumstances. 
Or she might have cut her throat, — which is 
more respectable, as the act requires both nerve 
and skill. But, like most converts of her class, 



2'>2 Japanese Miscellany 

O-Dai was weak: the courage of the race had 
failed in her. She wanted still to see the sun; 
and she was not of the sturdy type able to 
wrestle with the earth for that privilege. Even 
after fully abjuring her errors, there was left 
but one road for her to travel. 

Said the person who bought the body of 
O-Dai at a third of the price prayed for: — 

" My business is an exceedingly shameful busi- 
ness. But even into this business no woman can 
be received who is known to have done the thing 
that you have done. If I were to take you into 
my house, no visitors would come ; and the 
people would probably make trouble. There- 
fore to Osaka, where you are not known, you 
shall be sent ; and the house in Osaka will pay 
the money. . . ." 

So vanished forever O-Dai, — flung into the 
furnace of a city's lust. . . . Perhaps she existed 
only to furnish one example of facts that every 
foreign missionary ought to try to understand. 



Beside the Sea 



1 • 



Beside the Sea 

I 

THE Buddhist priests had announced that 
a 5^^a^/-service, in behalf of all the 
drowned folk of Yaidzu, would be held 
on the shore at two o'clock in the afternoon. 
Yaidzu is an ancient place— (it is mentioned, 
under the name of ^^ Yakidzu," in the oldest 
chronicles of Japan) ; — and for thousands of 
years the fishers of Yaidzu have been regularly 
paying their toll of life to the great deep. And 
the announcement of the priests reminded me of 
something very much older than Buddhism,— 
the fancy that the spirits of the drowned move 
with the waters forever. According to this 
belief, the sea off Yaidzu must be thick with 
souls. . . . 

Early in the afternoon I went to the shore to 
observe preparations ; and I found a multitude of 
people already there assembled. It was a burn- 
255 



2?6 Japanese Miscellany 

ing July day — not a speck of cloud visible ; and 
the coarse shingle of the slope, under the blaze of 
sun, was radiating heat like slag just raked from 
a furnace. But those fisher-folk, tanned to all 
tints of bronze, did not mind the sun : they sat 
on the scorching stones, and waited. The sea 
was at ebb, and gentle, — moving in slow, long, 
lazy ripples. 

Upon the beach there had been erected a kind 
of rude altar, about four feet high ; and on this 
had been placed an immense ihai, or mortuary 
tablet, of unpainted wood, — the back of the tab- 
let being turned to the sea. The ihai bore, in 
large Chinese characters, the inscription, Sangai- 
8ai7-Rei-I, — sign\iymg, " Resting-place [or, seat] 
of the myriad [innumerable] spirits of the Three 
States of Existence." Various food-oflferings had 
been set before this tablet, — including a bowl of 
cooked rice ; rice-cakes ; eggplants ; pears ; and, 
piled upon a fresh lotos leaf, a quantity of what 
is called hyaku-mi-no-onjiki. It is really a mix- 
ture of rice and sliced eggplant, though the name 
implies one hundred different kinds of nourish- 
ment. In the bowl of boiled rice tiny sticks were 
fixed, with cuttings of colored paper attached to 



Beside the Sea 2?7 

them. I also observed candles, a censer, some 
bundles of incense-rods, a vessel of water, and a 
pair of bamboo cups containing sprays of the 
sacred plant shikimi} Beside the water-vessel 
there had been laid a bunch of misohagi,^ with 
which to sprinkle water upon the food -offerings, 
according to the prescriptions of the rite. 

To each of the four posts supporting the altar 
a freshly-cut bamboo had been attached; and 
other bamboos had been planted in the beach, to 
right and left of the structure ; and to every bam- 
boo was fastened a little banner inscribed with 
Chinese characters. The banners of the bamboos 
at the four corners of the altar bore the names 
and attributes of the Four Deva Kings, — Zocho 
Tenno, guardian of the West; Jikoku Tenno, 
guardian of the East ; Tamon Tenno, guardian of 
the North ; and Komoku Tenno, guardian of the 
South. 

In front of the altar straw-mattings had been 
laid, so as to cover a space of beach about thirty 
feet long by fifteen wide ; and above this matted 
space awnings of blue cotton had been rigged up, 
to shelter the priests from the sun. I squatted 

1 IlUcium reh'gwsum. 

2 A kind of bush-clover. 

17 



2S8 Japanese Miscellany 

down awhile under the awnings to make a rough 
drawing (afterwards corrected and elaborated by 
a Japanese friend) of the altar and the offerings. 

The service was not held at the appointed 
time: it must have been nearly three o'clock 
when the priests made their appearance. There 
were seven of them, in vestments of great cere- 
mony ; and they were accompanied by acolytes 
carrying bells, books, stools, reading-stands, and 
other necessary furniture. Priests and acolytes 
took their places under the blue awning; the 
spectators standing outside, in the sun. Only 
one of the priests, — the chief officiant, — sat 
facing the altar ; the others, with their acolytes, 
seated themselves to right and left of him, — so 
as to form two ranks, facing each other. 

II 

After some preliminary rearrangement of the 
offerings upon the altar, and the kindling of some 
incense- rods, the ceremony proper began with a 
Buddhist hymn, or gatha, which was chanted to 
the accompaniment of hydshigi^ and of bells. 

^ Hyoshigi are small blocks of hard wood, which are 
used, either for signalling or for musical purposes, by strik- 



Beside the Sea 2?9 

There were two bells, — a large deep-sounding 
bell ; and a small bell of very sweet tone, — in 
charge of a little boy. The big bell was tapped 
slowly ; the little bell was sounded rapidly ; and 
the hydshigi rattled almost like a pair of castanets. 
And the effect of the gatht as chanted by all 
the oificiants in unison, with this extraordinary 
instrumentation, was not less impressive than 
strange : — 

Biku Bikuni 
Hosshin hdji 
Ikkijo-jiki, 
Fusejippo, 
Kyu-jin koku, 
Shuhen hokai, 
Mijin setchu 
ShO'U kokudo, 
Issai gaki ; 
Senbo kyumetsu, 
Sansen chishu, 
Naishi kqya, 
( Sho-kijin to, 

Shorai shusU. . , . 



ing them quickly together so as to produce a succession of 
sharp dry sounds. 



260 Japanese Miscellany 

This brief sonorous metre seemed to me partic- 
ularly well adapted for invocatory or incantatory 
chanting; and the gatha of the s^^-^^Z-service 
was indeed a veritable incantation, — as the fol- 
lowing free translation will make manifest : — 

"We, Bhikshus and Bhikunis, devoutly presenting this 
vessel of pure food, do offer the same to all, without excep- 
tion, of the Pretas dwelling in the Ten Directions of Space, 
in the surrounding Dharma-worlds, and in every part of 
the Earth, — not excepting the smallest atom of dust within 
a temple. And also to the spirits of those long dead and 
passed away, — and likewise unto the Lord-Spirits of moun- 
tain and river and soil, and of waste places. — Hither deign 
therefore to approach and to gather, all ye goblins ! — we 
now, out of our pity and compassion, desire to give you 
food. We wish that each and all of you may enjoy this 
our food-gift. And moreover we shall pray, doing homage 
to all the Buddhas and to all the Heavenly Ones who dwell 
within the Zones of Formlessness, that you, and that all 
beings having desire, may be enabled to obtain content- 
ment. We shall pray that all of you, by virtue of the utter- 
ance of the dharanis, and by the enjoyment of this food- 
offering, may find the higher knowledge, and be freed from 
every pain, and soon obtain rebirth in the Zone Celestial- 
there to know every bliss, moving freely in all the Ten 
Directions, and finding everywhere delight. — Awaken 
within yourselves the Bodhi-Mind ! — follow the Way of 
Enlightenment ! Rise to Buddhahood ! Turn ye no more 
backward ! — neither linger on the path ! Let such among 
you as first obtain the Way vow each to lead up the rest, 
and so become free ! — Also we beseech you now to watch 




Beside the Sea 261 

over us and to guard us, by night and by day. And help us 
even now to obtain our desire in bestowing this food upon 
you, — that the merit produced by this action may be 
extended to all beings dwelling within the Dhar ma-worlds, 
and that the power of this merit may help to spread the 
Truth through all those Dharma-worlds, and help all beings 
therein to find the Supreme Enlightenment, and to obtain 
all wisdom.— And we now pray that all your acts hereafter 
may serve to gain for you the merit that will help you to 
Buddhahood. And thus we desire that you quickly become 
Buddhas." 

Then began the most curious part of the ser- 
vice, — namely, the sprinkling and the presenta- 
tion of the food-offerings, with recitation of 
certain dharanis, or magical verses, composed of 
talismanic Sanscrit words. This portion of the 
rite was brief ; but to recount all its details would 
require much space, — every utterance or gesture 
of the officiant being made according to rule. 
For example, the hands and fingers of the priest, 
during the recital of any dharani, must be held in 
a position prescribed for that particular dharani. 
But the principal incidents of this complicated 
ritual are about as follows: 

First of all is recited, seven times, the Dharani 
of Invitation, to summon the spirits from the Ten 
Directions of Space. During its recitation the 
officiant must hold out his right hand, with 



262 Japanese Miscellany 

the tip of the middle finger touching the tip of 
the thumb, and the rest of the fingers extended. 
Then is recited, with a different, but equally 
weird gesture, the Dharam of the Breaking 
of the Gates of Hell. Next is repeated the 
Se-Kanro verse, or Dharani of the Bestowal of 
the Amrita, — by virtue of which it is supposed 
that the food-offerings are transformed, for the 
sake of the ghosts, into heavenly nectar and am- 
brosia. And thereafter is chanted, three times, 
an invocation to the Five Tathagatas : — 

"Salutation to Hosho Nyorai, — hereby besought to 
relieve {the Pretas] from the karma of all desire, and to fill 
them with bliss ! 

"Salutation to Myo-Shikishin-Nyorai, — besought to 
take away from them every imperfection of form ! 

"Salutation to Kanro-0-Nyorai, — besought to purify 
their bodies and their minds, and to give them peace of 
heart ! 

"Salutation to Kobaku-Shin-Nyorai, — besought to 
favor them with the delight of excellent taste ! 

"Salutation to Rifui-Nyorai, — besought to free them 
from all their fears, and to deliver them out of the World 
of Hungry Spirits ! " 

The book Bongyo Segaki-Monhen says : — 
" When the officiants have thus recited the 
names of the Five Tathagatas, then, by the grace of 
the power of those Buddhas, all the Pretas shall be 



w 



Beside the Sea 26J 

liberated from the karma of their former errors, — 
shall experience immeasurable bliss, — shall re- 
ceive excellent features and complete bodies,— 
shall be rid of all their terrors, — and, after hav- 
ing partaken of the food -offerings which have 
been changed for them into amrita of delightful 
taste, shall soon be reborn into the Pure Land 
[Jodo]." 

After the invocation of the Five Tathlgatas, 
other verses are recited ; and during this recita- 
tion the food-offerings are removed, one by one. 
(There is a mysterious regulation that, after hav- 
ing been taken from the altar, they must not be 
placed under a willow-tree, a peach-tree, or a 
pomegranate-tree.) Last of all is recited the Dhlr- 
ani of Dismissal, seven times, — the priest each 
time snapping his fingers as a signal to the ghosts 
that they are free to return. This is called the 
Hakken, or Sending-Away. 



Ill 

The sea never ebbs far on this steep coast,— 
though it often rises tremendously, breaking into 
the town ; and its gentler moods are not to be 



264 Japanese Miscellany 

trusted. By way of precaution the posts of the 
ihat-stmd had been driven deeply into the beach. 
The event proved that this precaution had not 
been taken in vain ; for the rite began, owing to 
the delay of the priests, only with the turn of the 
tide. Even while the gSth^l was being chanted, 
the sea roughened and darkened ; and then, — 
as if the outer deep responded, — the thunder-roll 
of a great breaker suddenly smothered the voices 
of the singers and the clanging of the bells. Soon 
another heavy surge boomed along the shore, — 
then another; and during the reciting of the 
dharanis the service could be heard only in the 
intervals of wave -bursts, — while the foam sheeted 
up the slope, whirling and hissing even to within 
a few paces of the altar. . . . 

And again I found myself thinking of the old 
belief in some dim relation between the dead and 
the sea. In that moment the primitive fancy ap- 
peared to me much more reasonable and more 
humane than the ghastly doctrine of a Preta- 
world, with its thirty-six orders of hideous misery, 
— its swarms of goblins hungering and burning ! 
. . . Nay, the poor dead ! — why should they be 
thus deformed and doomed by human judgment ? 



X-: 1 



Beside the Sea 26? 

Wiser and kindlier to dream of them as mingling 
with flood and wind and cloud, — or quickening 
the heart of the flower, — or flushing the cheek 
of the fruit, — or shrilling with the cicadas in 
forest-solitudes, — or thinly humming in summer- 
dusk with the gathering of the gnats. ... I do 
not believe, — I do not wish to believe in hungry 

ghosts Ghosts break up, I suppose, into 

soul-dust at the touch of death, — though their 
atoms, doubtless, thereafter recombine with other 
dust for the making of other ghosts. . . . Still, 
I cannot convince myself that even the grosser 
substance of vanished being ever completely dies, 
however dissolved or scattered, — fleeting in the 
gale, — floating in the mists, — shuddering in the 
leaf, — flickering in the light of waters, — or 
tossed on some desolate coast in a thunder 
of surf, to whiten and writhe in the clatter of 
shingle. . . . 

As the ceremony ended, a fisherman mounted 
lightly to the top of one of the awning-posts ; 
and there, gymnastically poised, he began to 
shower down upon the crowd a quantity of very 
small rice-cakes, which the young folks scrambled 
for, with shouts of laughter. After the uncanny 



266 Japanese Miscellany 

solemnity of that rite, the outburst of merriment 
was almost startling; but I found it also very 
natural, and pleasant, and human. Meanwhile 
the seven priests departed in many-colored pro- 
cession, — their acolytes trudging wearily behind 
them, under much weight of stands and stools 
and bells. Soon the assembly scattered, — all the 
rice-cakes having been distributed and appropri- 
ated ; — then the altar, the awnings, the mattings 
were removed ; — and in a surprisingly short time 
every trace of the strange ceremony had disap- 
peared. ... I looked about me; — I was alone 
upon the beach. . . . There was no sound but 
the sound of the returning tide : a muttering 
enormous, appalling, — as of some Life innom- 
inable, that had been at peace, awakened to 
immeasurable pain. . . . 



Drifting 



?" 




Drifting 



A TYPHOON was coming; and I sat on 
the sea-wall in a great wind to look at 
the breakers; and old Amano Jinsuke 
sat beside me. Southeast all was black-blue 
gloom, except the sea, which had a strange and 
tawny color. Enormous surges were already 
towering in. A hundred yards away they 
crumbled over with thunder and earthquake, 
and sent their foam leaping and sheeting up 
the slope, to spring at our faces. After each 
long crash, the sound of the shingle retreating 
was exactly like the roar of a railway train at 
full speed. I told Amano Jinsuke that it made 
me afraid; and he smiled. 

*' I swam for two nights and two days," he 
said, *' in a sea worse than this. I was nineteen 
years old at the time. Out of a crew of eight, 
1 was the only man saved. 
269 



270 Japanese Miscellany 

"Our ship was called the Fukuju Maru;^ — 
she was owned by Mayeda Jingoro, of this town. 
All of the crew but one were Yaidzu men. The 
captain was Saito Kichiyemon, — a man more 
than sixty years of age: he lived in Jo-no- 
Koshi, — the street just behind us. There was 
another old man on board, called Nito Shoshichi, 
who lived in the Araya quarter. Then there 
was Terao Kankichi, forty-two years old: his 
brother Minosuke, a lad of sixteen, was also 
with us. The Terao folk lived in Araya. Then 
there was Saito Heikichi, thirty years old; and 
there was a man called Matsushiro ; — he came 
from Suo, but had settled in Yaidzu. Washino 
Otokichi was another of the crew: he lived 
in Jo-no-Koshi, and was only twenty-one. I 
was the youngest on board, — excepting Terao 
Minosuke. 

"We sailed from Yaidzu on the morning of 
the tenth day of the seventh month of Manyen 
Gwannen,^ — the Year of the Ape, — bound for 
Sanuki. On the night of the eleventh, in the 



1 The word Fukuju signifies " Fortunate Longevity." 

2 That is to say the first, or coronation-year, of the 
Period Manyen,— 1860-1861. 




Drifting 271 

Kishu offing, we were caught by a typhoon from 
the southeast. A little before midnight, the 
ship capsized. As I felt her going over, I caught 
a plank, and threw it out, and jumped. It was 
blowing fearfully at the time; and the night 
was so dark that I could see only a few feet 
away; but I was lucky enough to find that 
plank, and put it under me. In another moment 
the ship was gone. Near me in the water were 
Washino Otokichi and the Terao brothers and 
the man Matsushiro, — all swimming. There 
was no sign of the rest: they probably went 
down with the ship. We five kept calling to 
each other as we went up and down with the 
great seas; and I found that every one except 
Terao Kankichi had a plank or a timber of some 
sort. 1 cried to Kankichi : — ' Elder brother, you 
have children, and I am very young; — let me 
give you this plank ! ' He shouted back : — Mn 
this sea a plank is dangerous ! — keep away from 
timber, Jinyo ! — you may get hurt ! ' Before 
I could answer him, a wave like a black moun- 
tain burst over us. I was a long time under ; and 
when I came up again, there was no sign of 
Kankichi. The younger men were still swim- 
ming; but they had been swept away to the 




272 Japanese Miscellany 

left of me ; — I could not see them : we shouted 
to each other. I tried to keep with the waves 

— the others called to me : — ' Jinyo ! Jinyo ! — 
come this way, — this way ! ' But I knew that 
to go in their direction would be very danger- 
ous; for every time that a wave struck me 
sideways, I was taken under. So 1 called back 
to them , ' Keep with the tide ! — keep with the 
current ! ' But they did not seem to understand ; 

— and they still called to me, * Kocchi e koi ! — 
kocchi e koi ! '^ — and their voices each time 
sounded more and more far away. I became 
afraid to answer. . . . The drowned call to you 
like that when they want company: Kocchi e 
koi! — kocchi e hoi! . . . 

'* After a little time the calling ceased ; and I 
heard only the sea and the wind and the rain. 
It was so dark that one could see the waves 
only at the moment they went by, — high black 
shadows, — each with a great pull. By the pull 
of them I guessed how to direct myself. The 
rain kept them from breaking much; — had it 
not been for the rain, no man could have lived 
long in such a sea. And hour after hour the 



I *' Come this way 1 



Drifting 273 

wind became worse, and the swells grew higher ; 
— and I prayed for help to Jizo-Sama of Ogawa 
all that night. . . . Lights? — yes, there were 
lights in the water, but not many : the large 
kind, that shine like candles. . . . 

** At dawn the sea looked ugly, — a muddy 
green ; and the waves were like hills ; and the 
wind was terrible. Rain and spray made a fog 
over the water ; and there was no horizon. But 
even if there had been land in sight I could have 
done nothing except try to keep afloat. I felt 
hungry, — very hungry ; and the pain of the 
hunger soon became hard to bear. All that day 
I went up and down with the great waves, — 
drifting under the wind and the rain ; and there 
was no sign of land. I did not know where 1 
was going: under that sky one could not tell 
east from west. 

'' After dark the wind lulled ; but the rain still 
poured, and all was black. The pain of the 
hunger passed ; but I felt weak, — so weak that 
I thought I must go under. Then I heard the 
voices calling me, — just as they had called me 
the night before : — ' Kocchi e koi ! — kocchi e 
koi .''... And, all at once, I saw the four men 
of the Fukuju Maru, — not swimming, but 

18 



274 Japanese Miscellany 

standing by me, — Terao Kankichi, and Terao 
Minosuke, and Washino Otokichi, and the man 
Matsushir5. All looked at me with angry faces ; 
and the boy Minosuke cried out, as in reproach : 
— 'Here I have to fix the helm; and you, Jin- 
suke, do nothing but sleep ! ' Then Terao Kan- 
kichi — the one to whom I had offered the 
plank — bent over me with a kakemono in his 
hands, and half -unrolled it, and said : — ' Jinyo ! 
here I have a picture of Amida Buddha — see! 
Now indeed you must repeat the Nemhutsu ! * 
He spoke strangely, in a way that made me 
afraid : I looked at the figure of the Buddha ; 
and I repeated the prayer in great fear, — Namu 
Amida Butsu ! — namu Amida Butsu I ^ In 
the same moment a pain, like the pain of fire, 
stung through my thighs and hips ; and I found 
that I had rolled off the plank into the sea. The 
pain had been caused by a great katsuo-no- 
eboshi. . . . You newer s^cw 2. katsuo-no-eboshi? 
It is a jelly-fish shaped like the eboshi, or cap, of 
a Shinto priest ; and we call it the katsuo-no- 
eboshi because the katsuo-fish [bonito] feed upon 



1 This invocation, signifying <* Salutation to the Buddha 
AmitSbha," is commonly repeated as a prayer for the dead. 



Drifting 275 

it. When that thing appears anywhere, the 
fishermen expect to catch many katsuo. The 
body is clear like glass ; but underneath there is 
a kind of purple fringe, and long purple strings ; 
and when those strings touch you, the pain is 
very great, and lasts for a long time. . . . That 
pain revived me; if I had not been stung I might 
never have awakened. I got on the plank again, 
and prayed to Jizo-Sama of Ogawa, and to Kom- 
pira-Sama ; and 1 was able to keep awake until 
morning. 

" Before daylight the rain stopped, and the sky 
began to clear ; for I could see some stars. At 
dawn I got drowsy again ; and I was awakened 
by a blow on the head. A large sea-bird had 
struck me. The sun was rising behind clouds ; 
and the waves had become gentle. Presently a 
small brown bird flew by my face, — a coast-bird 
(I do not know its real name) ; and I thought 
that there must be land in sight. I looked behind 
me, and I saw mountains. 1 did not recognize 
the shapes of them: they were blue, — seemed to 
be nine or ten ri distant. I made up my mind 
to paddle towards them, — though I had little 
hope of getting to shore. I was feeling hungry 
again, — terribly hungry ! 



276 Japanese Miscellany 

*' I paddled towards the mountains, hour after 
hour. Once more I fell asleep ; and once again 
a sea-bird struck me. All day I paddled. To- 
wards evening I could tell, from the look of the 
mountains, that I was approaching them; but I 
knew that it would take me two days to reach 
the shore. I had almost ceased to hope when I 
caught sight of a ship, — a big junk. She was 
sailing towards me ; but I saw that, unless I could 
swim faster, she would pass me at a great dis- 
tance. It was my last chance : so I dropped the 
plank, and swam as fast as I could. I did get 
within about two cho of her : then I shouted. 
But I could see nobody on deck ; and I got no 
answer. In another minute she had passed be- 
yond me. The sun was setting ; and I despaired. 
All of a sudden a man came on deck, and 
shouted to me : — ' Don't try to swim ! don't 
tire yourself ! — we are going to send a boat ! ' I 
saw the sail lowered at the same time ; and I felt 
so glad that new strength seemed to come to me ; 
— I swam on fast. Then the junk dropped a 
little boat ; and as the boat came towards me, a 
man called out : — Ms there anybody else ? — 
have you dropped anything ? ' I answered : — 
* I had nothing but a plank.' ... In the same 



Drifting 277 

instant all my strength was gone : I felt the men 
in the boat pulling me up ; but I could neither 
speak nor move, and everything became dark. 

"After a time I heard the voices again, — the 
voices of the men of the Fukuju Maru : — 
' Jinyo ! Jinyo ! ' — and I was frightened. Then 
somebody shook me, and said : — ' Oi! oi ! ^ 
it is only a dream!' — and I saw that I was 
lying in the junk, under a hanging lantern (for 
it was night) ; — and beside me an old man, a 
stranger, was kneeling, with a cup of boiled rice 
in his hand. ' Try to eat a little,' he said, very 
kindly. I wanted to sit up, but could not : then 
he fed me himself, out of the cup. When it was 
empty I asked for more ; but the old man an- 
swered : — ' Not now ; — you must sleep first.' 
I heard him say to some one else : — * Give him 
nothing more until 1 tell you : if you let him eat 
much, he will die.' I slept again ; and twice 
more that night I was given rice — soft-boiled 
rice — one small cupful at a time. 

" In the morning I felt much better ; and the 
old man, who had brought me the rice, came and 
questioned me. When he heard about the loss of 

1 As we should say, " Hey ! hey ! " — to call attention. 



\r 



278 Japanese Miscellany 

our ship, and the time that 1 had been in the 
water, he expressed great pity for me. He told 
me that I had drifted, in those two nights and 
days, more than twenty-five r // ' We went after 
your plank,' he said, ' and picked it up. Perhaps 
you would like to present it some day to the 
temple of Kompira-Sama.' I thanked him, but 
answered that I wanted to offer it to the temple 
of Jizo-Sama of Ogawa, at Yaidzu; for it was 
to Jizo-Sama of Ogawa that I had most often 
prayed for help. 

'' The kind old man was the captain, and also 
the owner, of the junk. She was a Banshu ship, 
and was bound for the port of Kuki, in Kishu. 
. . . You write the name, Ku-ki, with the charac- 
ter for ' demon,' — so that it means the Nine 
Demons. ... All the men of the ship were very 
good to me. I was naked, except for a loin 
cloth, when I came on board ; and they found 
clothes for me. One gave me an under-robe, 
and another an upper-robe, and another a girdle ; 
— several gave me towels and sandals ; — and all 
of them together made up a gift of money for 
me, amounting to between six and seven ryo. 



1 That is to say, about sixty-three English miles. 



Drifting 279 

" When we reached Kuki — a nice Httle place, 
though it has a queer name — the captain took me 
to a good inn ; and after a few days' rest I got 
strong again. Then the governor of the district, 
the Jito, as we called him in those days, — sent 
for me, and heard my story, and had it written 
down. He told me that he would have to send a 
report of the matter to the Jito of the Yaidzu 
district, after which he would find means to send 
me home. But the Banshu captain, who had 
saved me, offered to take me home in his own 
ship, and also to act as messenger for the Jito ; 
and there was much argument between the two. 
At that time we had no telegraph and no post ; 
and to send a special messenger (hikyaku), from 
Kuki to Yaidzu,^ would have cost at least fifty 
ryo. But, on the other hand, there were particu- 
lar laws and customs about such matters, — laws 
very different from those of to-day. Meanwhile 
a Yaidzu ship came to the neighboring port of 
Arasha; and a woman of Kuki, who happened 
to be at Arasha, told the Yaidzu captain that I 
was at Kuki. The Yaidzu ship then came to 
Kuki ; and the Jito decided to send me home in 



1 The distance is more than one hundred and fifty miles. 



u 



280 Japanese Miscellany 

charge of the Yaidzu captain, — giving him a 
written order. 

'' Altogether, it was about a month from the 
time of the loss of the Fukiiju Maru when I re- 
turned to Yaidzu. We reached the harbor at 
night ; and I did not go home at once : it would 
have frightened my people. Although no certain 
news of the loss of our ship had then been re- 
ceived at Yaidzu, several things belonging to her 
had been picked up by fishing-craft ; and as the 
typhoon had come very suddenly, with a terrible 
sea, it was generally believed that the Fukuju 
Maru had gone down, and that all of us had 
been drowned. . . . None of the other men were 
ever heard of again. ... I went that night to 
the house of a friend ; and in the morning I sent 
word to my parents and brother ; and they came 
for me. ... 

*' Once every year I go to the temple of Kom- 
pira in Sanuki: all who have been saved from 
shipwreck go there to give thanks. And 1 often 
go to the temple of Jizo-Sama of Ogawa. If 
you will come with me there to-morrow, 1 will 
show you that plank." 



Otokichi's Daruma 



Otokichi's Daruma 



I 



THE young folks are delighted, because last 
night a heavy fall of snow made for us 
what the Japanese poets so prettily call 
"a silver world." . . . Really these poets have 
been guilty of no extravagance in their charming 
praises of winter. For in Japan winter is beauti- 
ful, — fantastically beautiful. It bestirs no mel- 
ancholy imaginings about " the death of nature," 
— inasmuch as nature remains most visibly alive 
during even the Period of Greatest Cold. It 
does not afflict the aesthetic eye with the spectacle 
of *' skeleton -woods," — for the woods largely 
consist of evergreens. And the snow, — heaping 
softly upon the needles of the pines, or forcing 
the bamboos to display their bending grace under 
its momentary weight, — never suggests to Far- 
Eastern poet the dismal fancy of a winding-sheet. 
Indeed the singular charm of Japanese winter is 
made by this snow, — lumping itself into grotes- 
283 



284 Japanese Miscellany 

queries unimaginable above the constant verdure 
of woods and gardens. 

This morning my two students, Aki and Niimi, 
have been amusing themselves and the children 
by making a Yuki-Daruma; and I have been 
amusing myself by watching them. The rules 
for making a Yuki-Daruma are ancient and 
simple. You first compose a huge snowball, — 
between three and four feet in diameter, if pos- 
sible, — which is to represent the squatting body 
of Daruma. Then you make a smaller snow- 
ball, about two feet in diameter, to represent his 
head ; and you put this smaller ball on top of the 
other, — packing snow around the under-parts of 
both, so as to fix them in place. Two round 
lumps of charcoal serve to make eyes for Daruma ; 
and some irregular fragments of the same material 
will suffice to indicate his nose and mouth. Finally, 
you must scoop out a hollow in the great belly of 
him, to represent a navel, and stick a lighted 
candle inside. The warmth of the candle gradu- 
ally enlarges the opening. . . . 

But I forgot to explain the term Yuki-Daruma, 
or Snow-Daruma. " Daruma " is an abbreviation 
of the name Bodai-Daruma, — Japanese rendering 



Otokichi's Daruma 285 

of the Sanscrit " Bodhidharma." And who was 
Bodhidharma ? 

Bodhidharma, or Bodhitara, was the twenty- 
eighth patriarch of Buddhism, by succession from 
the great K^syapa. He went to China as a Bud- 
dhist missionary in the first year of the Ryo 
dynasty [520 A. D.] ; and in China he founded 
the great Zen (Dhydna) sect,— whose doctrine is 
called " The Doctrine of Thought transmitted by 
Thought": that is to say, transmitted without 
words, either written or spoken. Says Professor 
Bunyiu Nanjio, in his History of the Twelve Bud- 
dhist 5^^/s.- — " Besides all the doctrines of the 
Mahay ana and Hinayana, there is one distinct 
line of transmission of a secret doctrine, which is 
not subject to any utterance at all. According to 
this doctrine, one is to see the so-called key to the 
thought of Buddha, or the nature of Buddha, 
directly by his own thought." The tradition of 
the Zen doctrine is curious. When the Buddha 
was preaching upon the Vulture Peak, there sud- 
denly appeared before him the great Brahma, who 
presented a gold-colored flower to the Blessed 
One, and therewith besought him to preach the 
Law. The Blessed One accepted the heavenly 



286 Japanese Miscellany 

flower, and held it in his hand, but spoke no word. 
Then the great assembly wondered at the silence 
of the Blessed One. But the venerable KSsyapa 
smiled. And the Blessed One said to the venerable 
Kasyapa : — "I have the wonderful thought of 
NirvSna, the Eye of the True Law, which I now 
shall give you." ... So by thought alone the 
doctrine was transmitted to Ktsyapa; and by 
thought alone Kasyapa transmitted it to Ananda ; 
and thereafter by thought alone it was transmitted 
from patriarch to patriarch even to the time of 
Bodhidharma, who communicated it to his suc- 
cessor, the second Chinese patriarch of the sect. 
By some writers it is said that Bodhidharma 
visited Japan ; but this statement appears to have 
little foundation. At all events, the Zen doctrine 
was not introduced into Japan before the eighth 
century. 

Now of the many legends about Daruma, the 
most famous is the story that he once remained 
for nine years in uninterrupted meditation, during 
which time his legs fell oflf . Wherefore images 
of him are made without legs. 

Certainly Daruma has large claims to respect. 
But the artists and the toymakers of the Far East 
have never allowed these claims to interfere with 




u. 

XJ ^^n ^ 




288 Japanese Miscellany 

the indulgence of their sense of humor, — origi- 
nally bestirred, no doubt, by the story of the loss 
of his legs. For centuries this legendary mishap 
has been made the subject of comical drawings 
and comical carvings ; and generations of Japan- 
ese children have amused themselves with a cer- 
tain toy-image of Daruma so contrived that, 
however the little figure be thrown down, it will 
always bob up again into a squatting posture. 
This still popular toy, called Okiagari-kohoshi 
(" The Getting-up Little Priest") may have been 
originally modelled, or remodelled, after a Chinese 
toy made upon the same principle, and called Puh- 
Tau-Ung (" The Not-falling-down Old Man"). 
Mention is made of the Okiagari-Kohoshi in a 
Japanese play called Manju-Kui, known to have 
been composed in the fourteenth century. But the 
earlier forms of the toy do not seem to have been 
representations of Daruma. There is, however, 
a children's-song, dating from the seventeenth 
century, which proves that the Daruma-toy was 
popular more than two hundred years ago : — 

Hi ni ! fu ni ! 
Fundan Daruma ga 
Akai lukin kahuri sunmaita! 



Otokichi's Daruma 289 

["Once! twice! . . . Ever the red-hooded 
Daruma heedlessly sits up again ! "] From this 
little song it would seem that the form of the 
toy has not been much changed since the seven- 
teenth century ; Daruma still wears his hood, and 
is still painted red — all of him except his face. 

Besides the Snow- Daruma already described, 
and the toy- Daruma (usually made of papier- 
mache), there are countless comical varieties of 
Daruma: figures moulded or carved in almost 
every kind of material, and ranging in size from 
the tiny metal Daruma, half-an-inch long, de- 
signed for a pouch-clasp, to the big wooden 
Daruma, two or three feet high, which the Japan- 
ese tobacconist has adopted for a shop-sign. . . . 
Thus profanely does popular art deride the holy 
legend of the nine years' meditation. 




TOY-DARUMA 
19 



290 Japanese Miscellany 

II 

Now that Yuki-Daruma in my garden reminds 
me of a vefy peculiar Daruma which I discov- 
ered several years ago, at a certain fishing-village 
on the eastern coast where I passed a happy 




summer. There was no hotel in the place ; but 
a good man called Otokichi, who kept a fish- 
shop, used to let me occupy the upper part of his 
house, and fed me with fish cooked in a wonder- 
ful variety of ways. 

One morning he called me into his shop to 
show me a very fine hoho. ... I wonder if you 
ever saw anything resembling a hobo. It looks 



Otokichi's Daruma 291 

so much like a gigantic butterfly or moth, that 
you must examine it closely to make sure that it 
is not an insect, but a fish, — a sort of gurnard. 
It has four fins arranged like pairs of wings, — 
the upper pair dark, with bright spots of sky- 
blue ; the lower pair deep red. It seems also to 
have legs like a butterfly, — slender legs upon 
which it runs about quickly. . . . 

" Is it good to eat ? " I asked. 

''He!'' answered Otokichi : — " this shall be 
prepared for the Honorable Dinner." 

[To any question asked of him, — even a ques- 
tion requiring answer in the negative, — Otokichi 
would begin his reply with the exclamation He 
("Yes"), — uttered in such a tone of sympathy 
and good-will as to make the hearer immediately 
forget all the tribulations of existence.] 

Then I wandered back into the shop, looking 
at things. On one side were rows of shelves 
supporting boxes of dried fish, and packages of 
edible seaweed, and bundles of straw sandals, 
and gourds for holding sake, and bottles of lem- 
onade! On the opposite side, high up, I per- 
ceived iht kamidana, — the Shelf of the Gods; 
and I noticed, under the kamidana, a smaller 



292 Japanese Miscellany 

shelf occupied by a red image of Daruma. Evi- 
dently the image was not a toy: there were 
oiferings in front of it. I was not surprised 
to find Daruma accepted as a household divinity, 
— because I knew that in many parts of Japan 




prayers were addressed to him on behalf of chil- 
dren attacked by smallpox. But I was rather 
startled by the peculiar aspect of Otokichi's 
Daruma, which had only one eye, — a large and 
formidable eye that seemed to glare through the 
dusk of the shop like the eye of a great owl. 
It was the right eye, and was made of glazed paper. 
The socket of the left eye was a white void. 



Otokichi's Daruma 29? 

Therefore I called to Otokichi : — 
" Otokichi San ! — did the children knock out 
the left eye of Daruma Sama ? " 

^' He, he!'' sympathetically chuckled Otokichi, 

— lifting a superb hatsuo to the cutting-bench, 

— *' he never had a left eye." 

" Was he made that way ? " I asked. 
** He!'' responded Otokichi, — as he swept his 
long knife soundlessly through the argent body, 

— '*the folk here make only blind Darumas. 
When I got that Daruma, he had no eyes at 
all. I made the right eye for him last year, — 
after a day of great fishing." 

*' But why not have given him both eyes ? *' 
I queried; — ** he looks so unhappy with only 
one eye ! " 

''He, he!" replied Otokichi, — skilfully rang- 
ing the slices of pink-and-silver flesh upon a 
little mat of glass rods,i — " when we have 
another day of great good fortune, then he 
shall be given the other eye." 

Then I walked about the streets of the village, 
peeping into the houses and shops; and I dis- 
covered various other Darumas in different stages 



1 Such a little glass mat is called sudare. 



294 Japanese Miscellany 

of development, — some without eyes, some with 
only one, and some with two. I remembered 
that in Izumo it was especially Hotel, — the big- 
bellied God of Comfort, — who used to be prac- 
tically rewarded for his favors. As soon as the 
worshipper found reason for gratitude, Hotel's 
recumbent image was put upon a soft cushion; 
and for each additional grace bestowed the god 
would be given an additional cushion. But it 
occurred to me that Daruma could not be given 
more than two eyes : three would change him into 
the sort of goblin called Mitsume-Koio. ... I 
learned, upon inquiry, that when a Daruma has 
been presented with a pair of eyes, and with sun- 
dry small offerings, he is put away to make room 
for an eyeless successor. The blind Daruma can 
be expected to do wonderful things, because he 
has to work for his eyes. 

There are many such funny little deities in 
Japan, — so many that it would need a very 
big book to describe them; and I have found 
that the people who worship these queer little 
gods are, for the most part, pathetically honest. 
Indeed my own experience would almost justify 
the belief that the more artless the god, the 



Otokichi's Daruma 29? 

more honest the man, — though I do not want 
my reader to make any hasty deductions. I do 
not wish to imply, for example, that the super- 
lative point of honesty might begin at the van- 
ishing point of the god. Only this much I would 
venture : — Faith in very small gods, — toy-gods, 
— belongs to that simplicity of heart which, in 
this wicked world, makes the nearest possible 
approach to pure goodness. 

On the evening before I left the village, 
Otokichi brought me his bill, — representing 
the cost of two months' good cheer; — and the 
amount proved to be unreasonably small. Of 
course a present was expected, according to the 
kindly Japanese custom; but, even taking that 
fact into consideration, the bill was absurdly 
honest. The least that I could do to show my 
appreciation of many things was to double the 
payment requested; and Otokichi's satisfaction, 
because perfectly natural and at the same time 
properly dignified, was something beautiful to 
see. 

1 was up and dressed by half -past three the 
next morning, in order to take an early express - 
train; but even at that ghostly hour I found 



296 Japanese Miscellany 

a warm breakfast awaiting me downstairs, and 
Otokichi's little brown daughter ready to serve 
me. ... As I swallowed the final bowl of warm 
tea, my gaze involuntarily wandered in the 
direction of the household gods, whose tiny 
lamps were still glowing. Then I noticed that 
a light was burning also in front of Daruma; 
and almost in the same instant I perceived that 
Daruma was looking straight at me — with 
TWO eyes! . . . 




In a Japanese Hospital 



In a Japanese Hospital 



I 



. . . The last patient of the evening, — a boy 
less than four years old, — is received by nurses 
and surgeons with smiles and gentle flatteries, to 
which he does not at all respond. ... He is 
both afraid and angry — especially angry — 
at finding himself in an hospital to-night : some 
indiscreet person assured him that he was being 
taken to the theatre ; — and he sang for joy on 
the way, forgetting the pain of his arm ; — and 
this is not the theatre ! There are doctors here 
— doctors that hurt people. ... He lets himself 
be stripped, and bears the examination without 
wincing ; but when told that he must lie down 
upon a certain low table, under an electric lamp, 
he utters a very emphatic lya !^. . . The expe- 
rience inherited from his ancestors has assured 

1 ''No!" 

299 



300 Japanese Miscellany 

him that to lie down in the presence of a possible 
enemy is not good ; and by the same ghostly 
wisdom he has divined that the smile of the sur- 
geon was intended to deceive. ..." But it will 
be so nice upon the table ! " — coaxingly observes 
a young nurse ; — ''see the pretty red cloth ! " 
'^ lya ! " repeats the little man — made only more 
wary by this appeal to aesthetic sentiment. . . . 
So they lay hands upon him — two surgeons and 
two nurses, — lift him deftly, — bear him to the 
table with the red cloth. Then he shouts his 
small cry of war, — for he comes of good fight- 
ing stock, — and, to the general alarm, battles 
most valiantly, in spite of that broken arm. But 
lo ! a white wet cloth descends upon his eyes 
and mouth, — and he cannot cry, — and there is 
a strange sweet smell in his nostrils, — and the 
voices and the lights have floated very, very far 
away, — and he is sinking, sinking, sinking into 
wavy darkness. . . . The slight limbs relax ; — 
for a moment the breast heaves quickly, in the 
last fight of the lungs against the paralyzing 
anaesthetic : then all motion stops. . . . Now the 
cloth is removed ; and the face reappears — all 
the anger and pain gone out of it. So smile the 
little gods that watch the sleep of the dead. . . . 



In a Japanese Hospital-" 301 

Quickly the ends of the fractured bone are 
brought into place with a clear snap; — ban- 
dages and cotton and plaster-of- Paris, and yet 
more bandages, are rapidly applied by expert 
hands ; — the face and little hands are sponged. 
Then the patient, still insensible, is wrapped in a 
blanket and taken away. . . . Interval, between 
entrance and exit : twelve minutes and a half. 

Nothing is commonplace as seen for the first 
time; and the really painless details of the in- 
cident — the stifling of the cry, the sudden numb- 
ing of will, the subsequent pallid calm of the little 
face — so simulated tragedy as to set imagination 
wandering in darksome ways. ... A single 
wicked blow would have produced exactly the 
same results of silence and smiling rest. Count- 
less times in the countless ages of the past it must 
have done so ; — countless times passion must 
have discerned, in the sudden passionless beauty 
of the stricken, the eternal consequence of the 
act. . . . Till the heavens he no more they shall 
not awake, nor he roused out of their sleep. 
" Till the heavens be no more" — but after .? 
Thereafter — perhaps : yet never again the 
same. . . . 



302 Japanese Miscellany 

But I felt that I had been startled more than 
touched by that sudden suppression of the per- 
sonality, the Self, — because of the mystery 
thereby made manifest. In one moment, — 
under the vapor of a chemical, — voice, motion, 
will, thought, all pleasure and pain and memory, 
had ceased to be ; — the whole life of the budding 
senses, — the delicate machinery of the little 
brain, with its possible priceless inheritance from 
countless generations, — had been stilled and 
stopped as by the very touch of death. And 
there remained, to all outward seeming, only the 
form, the simulacrum, — a doll of plastic flesh, 
with the faint unconscious smile of an icon. . . . 

The faces of the little stone Buddhas, who 
dream by roadsides or above the graves, have 
the soft charm of Japanese infancy. They re- 
semble the faces of children asleep ; — and you 
must have seen Japanese children asleep to know 
the curious beauty of the immature features, — 
the vague sweetness of the lines of lids and lips. 
In the art of the Buddhist image -maker, the 
peace of the divine condition is suggested by 
the same shadowy smile that makes beautiful 
the slumber of the child. 



In a Japanese Hospital 303 

II 

The memory of icons naturally evoked remem- 
brance of those powers which icon$.'do but sym- 
bolize ; and presently I fouj^d^myself thinking 
that, to the vision of a Gg^, the entire course of 
a human life would appear much like the incident 
which I had just witnessed, — a coming, a crying 
and struggling, and a sudden vanishing of per- 
sonality under the resistless anaesthetic of death. 
(I am not speaking of a cosmic divinity, to whom 
the interval between the kindling and the extinc- 
tion of a sun would seem as brief as seems to us 
the flash of a firefly in the night: I mean an 
anthropomorphic God.) According to Herbert 
Spencer, the tiny consciousness of a gnat can dis- 
tinguish intervals of time representing something 
between the ten-thousandth and the fifteen- 
thousandth part of a second. For a being as 
mentally superior to man as man to the gnat, 
would not the time of a generation appear but an 
instant .? Would such a being perceive our human 
existence at all, except as a budding and a wither- 
ing,— a ceaseless swift succession of apparitions 
and disparitions, — a mere phenomenon of fer- 
mentation peculiar to the surface of a cooling 



304 Japanese Miscellany 

planet ? Of course, were he to study that phe- 
nomenon in detail, somewhat as we study fer- 
ments under the lens, he would not see the smile 
of the babe change instantaneously to the laughter 
of the skull ; — but 1 fancy that whatever might 
psychologically happen, between the first smile of 
rosy flesh and the last dull grin of bone, would 
remain for him as indistinguishable as the gnat's 
ten or fifteen thousand wing-beats per second 
remain for us. I doubt whether the God of a 
system, or even of a single world, could sympa- 
thize with our emotions any more than we our- 
selves can sympathize with the life that thrills in 
a droplet of putrid water. . . . 

But what is this human creature that, in the 
sight of a God, might seem to rise from earth 
merely to weep ^nd laugh one moment in the 
light, ere crumbling back to clay again ? A form 
evolved, in the course of a hundred million years, 
from out some shapeless speck of primordial 
slime. But this knowledge of the evolution no- 
wise illuminates the secret of the life in itself, — 
the secret of the sentiency struggling against de- 
struction through all those million centuries, — 
ever contriving and building, to baffle death, more 



In a Japanese Hospital 30? 
and more astounding complexities of substance, 
more and yet more marvellous complexities of 
mind, — and able at last to prolong the term of 
its being from the primal duration of an instant 
to the possible human age of a hundred years. 
The sentiency is the riddle of riddles. Thought 
has been proved a compounding of sensation. 
But the simplest sensation perceptible is itself a 
compound or the result of a compounding, — 
pediaps the shock of a fusion, — the flash of a 
blending; — and the mystery of life remains the 
most inscrutable, the most tremendous, the most 
appalling of enigmas. 

From the terror of that mystery our fathers 
sought to save their world by uttering the black 
decree: — "0/7 pain of swoni and fire, — on 
peril of the Everlasting Death, — thou SHALT 

NOT think! " 

But the elder wisdom of the East proclaimed : 
- Fear not to think, O child of the Abyss, upon 
the Depth that gave thee birth ! Divining that 
Formless out of which thou hast come, into 
which thou must dissolve again, thou shall know 
thy Being timeless, and infinitely One ! . . ." 



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